Kindness of strangers

    After finishing last night's blog post, I received a nice call from a neighbor.  She said that she had thought about nothing but Jed all day.  She could not stop wondering if he was sad or if he was adjusting well.  Her kind words really sent me over the edge, and I started crying on the phone with the poor woman.  She told me that she would do anything for Jed and that her sons would make sure that school turned out to be a good experience for him.  I only met her days ago yet she spent time comforting me and telling me that she admired the opportunity that I was giving my son and that she would love to be able to do the same.
    This morning as I waited for Jed to be let into the school courtyard, another mom approached me and said in perfect British English that she had heard through the grapevine that Jed's first day had been difficult.  When I filled her in on some of the details, she said that she just had to help us.  She is a stay-at-home mom at the moment so she said that she was going to call the school principal whom she knows very well to see if she can shadow Jed a few mornings a week to help him understand his teacher until he knows French better.  I told her that I did not want her to go to all that trouble, and she replied in the same way that everyone who helps us has replied, "C'est normal!"  "It's normal!" I suppose it is.
    Jed was over feeling sorry for himself before his head hit the pillow last night.  He told me that he would like to stay here for two years so that he can really get to know his friends, and for dinner, he formed his pommes noisettes (mashed potato balls) into a smiley face.  I won't worry about him until he forms them into a sneer, I guess.