It's something all moms worry about when we send our babies to school: Will our little ones be treated with love and kindness? Or will they be bullied, ignored … will they have to sit and eat their lunch alone? During a team visit to a middle school this week, football player Travis Rudolph saw one boy doing just that — so he asked if he could join him. I can't imagine anything Rudolph could do on the football field that would compare to that act of kindness. The boy's mom was so overwhelmed, she had to share her gratitude on Facebook.
"I do remember middle school being scary, and hard," writes Leah Paske in her post. She also says:
Now that I have a child starting middle school, I have feelings of anxiety for him, and they can be overwhelming if I let them. Sometimes I'm grateful for his autism. That may sound like a terrible thing to say, but in some ways I think, I hope, it shields him. He doesn't seem to notice when people stare at him when he flaps his hands. He doesn't seem to notice that he doesn't get invited to birthday parties anymore. And he doesn't seem to mind if he eats lunch alone.
But even if her son, Bo, doesn't mind, of course his mama does.
Travis Rudolph and his Florida State University teammates were visiting Montford Middle School in Tallahassee when he noticed Bo eating lunch by himself.
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"I asked if I could sit next to him, and he said 'sure, why not?'" Rudolph told the Orlando Sentinel. "I just felt like we had a great conversation. He started off and was so open. He told me his name was Bo, and how much he loves Florida State, and he went from there."
But what was just a casual lunch over a couple of slices of cafeteria pizza was so much bigger and more important to Bo's mom, who worries every day about her autistic son sitting by himself in the middle of the school cafeteria.
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But then one day, out of the blue, a friend sent Leah a picture of her son sitting with Rudolph.
"I'm not sure what exactly made this incredibly kind man share a lunch table with my son, but I'm happy to say that it will not soon be forgotten," Leah wrote in her Facebook post. "This is one day I didn't have to worry if my sweet boy ate lunch alone, because he sat across from someone who is a hero in many eyes."
Here's the whole post. I dare you not to cry.
All moms worry about our kids making friends at school. Having a kid with autism or trouble relating socially with other kids must only make that anxiety that much worse.
But for just one day Bo got to sit at the cool kids' table in the cafeteria.
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Rudolph's coach Jimbo Fisher said he's "extremely proud" of him for being a role model.
"You an affect people in a lot of ways," Fisher said. "That's the way you affect people."
Rudolph is certainly having an impact beyond just Montford Middle School — Leah's Facebook post has gone viral, shared nearly 10,000 times.
Nice job, Travis — you're quite a guy. You've blessed the hearts of worried moms everywhere, and gained plenty of new fans of your performance on, and off, the field.
Image via Leah Paske/Facebook
