This page was first published on the 29th of June, 2016 and last updated on the 29th of June, 2016 by Patrick Carpen.

A Trip to Manaus: Sharing My Popcorn with the Special Child: The Most Beautiful Story of the Afternoon.

I must admit that my day so far had been saturated with joy and wonderment, but the most beautiful incident happened when we went to pick up Micaella’s daughter Sophia, from her school. Micaella told me to wait in front as she went to the back to get her daughter. I bought a popcorn from the vendor outside and went back in and sat down on a bench by the wall.

Next to me was a little girl and her mom. She was such a cute kid, but something looked a bit “special” about her. As I sat there, eating from the bag of popcorn, I noticed her glancing subtly into the bag. Then all of a sudden, she plunged her hand into the popcorn bag, grabbed some popcorn and stuffed it quickly into her mouth. In less than an instant, her mother grabbed her hand and reprehended her. “No.!!” she told the little girl.

But I started laughing. I told her mother to calm down, that its okay. In fact, when I first sat there, I wanted to offer the little girl some popcorn, but I hesitated. I felt so happy when she grabbed some. I held the bag over to her and told her to take as much as she liked. So we both shared the bag of popcorn that day, and her mom kept smiling. But by the time we had eaten half of the bag of popcorn, Micaella had returned with Sophia and it was time to go.

I handed the little girl the rest of the popcorn and I whispered to her mom “this is the most beautiful thing that has happened to me all afternoon.” Her mother smiled ever more, and giggled a bit. She had told me that the little girl was a “child of special needs”

Indeed, sharing my popcorn with a child of special needs was the most beautiful thing that happened all afternoon.