A mother was concerned about her kindergarten son, Timmy, walking to school.
He didn’t want his mother to walk with him.
She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence, but yet know that he was safe.
Her neighbor learned about the mother’s dilemma and offered to follow the young boy to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn’t notice her.
“I’m up early with my toddler anyway; it will be a good way for us to get some exercise as well,” said the neighbor.
The relieved mother agreed.
The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with another neighbor boy he knew.
She did this for the whole week.
As the boys walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy’s little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week.
Finally, he said to Timmy,
“Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her”?
Timmy nonchalantly replied, “Yeah, I know who she is.”
The friend said, “Well, who is she”?
“That’s just Shirley Goodnest,” Timmy replied.
“And her daughter Marcy.”
“Shirley Goodnest? Who the heck is she and why is she following us”?
“Well,” Timmy explained. “Every night, my mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, because she worries about me so much. And in the Psalm, it says, ‘Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life,’ so I guess I’ll just have to get used to it!”