More than a month ago my sister invited me to be part of a program to encourage and support the children of the orphanage in which the church she attends has been making donations. She asked me if I would be willing to be part of the group "give smiles for a weekend", that day I was in high spirits because I had just finished reading the famous book "The Little Prince" by the author Saint Exupery. I thought it was a good idea to have a little friend to share adventures with, so without thinking I told my sister that I would be part of the program.
The days went by and the volume of my work increased, I was really exhausted and the day before the meeting with the child from the orphanage arrived, something I had forgotten, my sister called me to remind me and I was sorry for having made such a commitment, I never thought I would be so tired for the date, however, I had already said yes, besides it was for a good cause, so I told her: "relax sister, I'll be there at 8:00 AM".
I was praying for a moment that they would assign me a quiet girl to sit in the park with to get some work done on my laptop while she watched some movies I downloaded on my phone (the little mermaid, beauty and the beast, barbie, Matilda and others) and maybe then the girl would do my hair and play at painting my nails, I was really thinking selfishly, I wanted a relaxed day for me.
At night I went to bed late working and finishing downloading movies, I set the alarm to wake up early but my body still finds it hard to get out of bed and even more so when I feel so tired, I fell asleep, took a quick shower, put on some comfortable clothes and ran out, as expected I arrived half an hour late, almost all the children had already been taken away, only Daniel and Victoria were left.
The orphanage caretakers very cleverly showed me the children from afar and told me that I had 5 minutes to choose with whom I would spend the day. The children were in a courtyard, Victoria kept running and I had the impression that her energy for the day was just beginning, I didn't think she was the child who would spend the day entertaining herself watching movies while I went about my business, while Daniel was sitting there drawing a picture, I immediately connected with him and without thinking I chose him, he reminded me of myself when as a child I loved to paint and also of my nephew who loves to spend hours drawing, when I saw his eyes full of tenderness, a genuine smile appeared on my face, now it was up to me to reorganize the day.
When Daniel and I left the place, the couple that was going to take Victoria was coming in...
Good thing (I thought to myself), all the children already had their representatives.
A cab was waiting for us outside to take us wherever we wanted, a millionaire was sponsoring the whole program and was covering the expenses, the first thing was to have breakfast, Daniel told me he was very hungry so we went to buy empanadas and juice, I know a place where they are very good and we went there, Daniel ate until he could not eat and a homeless man passed by asking, Daniel looked at me as if he wanted to say "Aren't we going to do anything? "I ordered 2 more empanadas and a strawberry juice and gave them to Daniel to give to the man, his gesture of satisfaction was a poem when he made the delivery, being so needy and being for a moment who has to give, I could feel his enthusiasm.
I asked him what he wanted to do and he told me that he had no idea but that he had always wanted to drive a car, I asked the cab to take us to Junquito, about two hours from the capital, I remembered that there is a family place, very cozy to drive karting cars, something I enjoy a lot too, there we were driving and doing competitions among us, we really had a wonderful time.
Then, he told me that he also wanted to learn how to ride a bicycle and I remembered that there is a place in Caracas that rents them out on weekends and we went there to learn how to do it, we had a great time, I could hold his bicycle to help him but he could not do the same, so in one of these I fell and he tried not to laugh, he was a shy boy, however, he could not hide it and laughed when he saw that I laughed too.
It was past lunch time and we got hungry late because we had enough for breakfast.
I would have liked to offer him a healthy menu, including a soup and vegetables but Daniel asked for hamburgers, so we went to McDonald's and I ordered a happy box for him, I liked the idea because it had a surprise gift, this time it was a notebook with drawings to color, his happy face was priceless.
We ate hamburgers, fries, juice and ice cream, I told her to walk around the mall for a while to process a little bit the amount of food we had eaten. I bought him a box of 36 crayons of the best quality so he could color the notebook he had just received, his gesture of surprise and satisfaction is something to remember for the rest of his life.
It was almost nightfall, he told me he was a little tired and asked me if he could drive the cab back, I laughed and told him that to drive that car he still needed to meet many requirements but if he wanted to continue in a car we could go to some very funny ones, he liked the idea and after a few minutes we were at the amusement park and the first thing was to go to the bumper cars, I had not seen him laugh so much during the day as when other children crashed their car and screamed with happiness.
On the way back, he fell asleep in the car, when we arrived they took him to the room still asleep, I did not manage to say goodbye to him, I do not know what he will think when he wakes up, at least for the moment he will have his sketchbook and his crayons, I think he will wake up happy.
I had a great day, I went with an idea and a plan and everything was totally different than I imagined, I even forgot about work and I really enjoyed it, it was very rewarding and satisfying. Now I can't stop thinking about those eyes full of innocence and that shy smile of Daniel, I feel that something unites us, I will visit him more often, from this moment on I think I have gained a great little friend.
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Very grateful to 