pay it forward

Back at the beginning of December or end of November we went to the Gaylord Palms ICE display. It was beautiful. Really amazing. I can't remember how much I wrote about it but it was a really fun experience. For those of you who have never heard of ICE. It is a display of amazing ice sculptures. This group of artists, really artists, from China (I think) come to Orlando, FL and they sculpt these amazing and intricate ice sculptures. Some looked like Christmas ornaments, their were rabbits, bridges, and all kinds of cool stuff. My favorite was the beautiful clear ice Nativity scene. It was breathtaking. Sophia loved the giant ice slides. She even went down the biggest slide all by herself. She really surprised me with her bravery that day, she normally isn't into doing things by herself. But she was all about these slides. She was the littlest one in the place and I think she was having the most fun. When we finished at ICE we went over to the resort atrium to collect our free hot chocolate. We were having such a great day. We walked and walked, then we found the hot chocolate. Just as we sat down the alarm in this huge atrium started going off. Tony went and asked it we should leave and the people working at the hot chocolate place said it was nothing to worry about and it happens often. We just stayed and drank our hot coco. Not thirty seconds later people started running from the area where the guest rooms are. Then the shopping stores in the atrium closed their doors and we saw workers evacuating people from the building we followed the crowd to the nearest door. Now this is a pretty popular event and it's a popular hotel and there were hundreds of people being evacuated. Then they ushered us out a side door that was a narrow stairway leading down to the pool. Now, we have the kids and a double stroller. Up until this point I was carrying Sophia and pushing the stroller and Tony was holding Troy and our bags. There was no way to get down this stairway with the stroller without buckling the kids in and carrying the stroller down the steps. There were people rushing all around us. In the chaos we for such brief moments encountered such kindness. In the time it took us to put the kids in the stroller three men stopped and asked if they could help us. All three of these men had wife's and children with them. While their wives and children continued on and were ushered out the door these men stopped to ask if they could help us. We had it under control but what kindness in such a nervous time. I think everyone was thinking bomb threat, fire, who knows... those were my thoughts and what I heard people talking about. While Tony and I were carrying the stroller down these narrow steps two other men offered to help carry my end. I don't know what happened that day that caused the alarm to go off. We saw fire, ems, police, and other emergency vehicles going to the Gaylord Palms that day but other than that the resort still stands and ICE was never shut down. We got down to the pool area and then figured out a way back to our van.
But, those five strangers who showed such kindness in that moment - what a lesson and an example for our family. I bet not one of them recall asking if they could help us. It definatly made an impact on me. Pay it forward I guess.
It happened a while ago, I had really wanted to write about this earlier but this was the first chance I got. I don't want to forget it.