Took my kids to a concert. DD8 immediately found a friend from school who was with her dad and started chatting. DS10 has severe autism and doesn't speak. He was very wiggly. I played with him, we walked back and forth, I turned one of the programs into a paper airplane so he'd entertain himself unfolding and folding it. Then the music started.
Since it's a music concert, jumping and flapping your hands is, well, normal. So I would look at him, get excited along with him and imitate his jumping. He felt right at home and had a great day.
Then Sunday, the father of DD8's friend came to me at church. "I just wanted to say hello and tell you you're a very good dad". I felt moved that someone would notice. I was just trying to get my son to "get through" the very loud, very stressful (for a child with Autism) environment so he'd enjoy the outing.
By the way this dad is the husband of my DD8's teacher. STBXWW volunteers at the school. There's no way this won't get back to her.
Then the sermon made this grown man cry.
The sermon at church? Jonah. The importance of obedience. The hell we unleash on ourselves and others when we don't walk the good path, and the eventual special joy we will have by doing the right thing under tough circumstances.
The sermon's example? A couple where the wife was unfaithful and left for another man, the owner of a lake house the couple had just bought for their retirement. She got a quick divorce, upended her life and that of everyone around her and two weeks after marrying her new man, he died of a heart attack.
You can't make this stuff up.