I was ready to have a complete meltdown over my son's forgotten science project, but my neighbor's kindness completely floored me.

By @ashkinda · Family

It was one of those classic parent fails. The super-important, graded-this-week project was sitting on our kitchen table, and he was already at school. I was about to leave work and make a frantic two-hour round trip to fix my mistake when I sent a hail-mary text to my neighborhood group chat.

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I am officially a hot-mess-express mom. This morning was the usual chaos of getting my two kids (6 and 9) out the door, and in the shuffle, I didn't see it. My oldest son's massive, painstakingly-made diorama of a rainforest ecosystem was sitting proudly on the kitchen table, NOT at school with him. I noticed it around 10am and the biggest pit formed in my stomach. He would be devastated, and it was a huge chunk of his science grade. My first thought was, 'I have to fix this.' But my office is a 45-minute drive in the opposite direction of his school, and I had a huge project deadline. Doing the round trip would take at least two hours, cost me a half-day of PTO I don't really have, and earn me some serious side-eye from my boss. I was spiraling, feeling like the worst mom on the planet. On a total whim, more to vent my panic than anything, I sent a message to our neighborhood group chat. 'Total long shot, but my son's rainforest diorama is sitting on my porch and he's at school without it. Is anyone by any chance heading in the direction of the elementary school today?' Not even five minutes later, my neighbor from two doors down, a sweet retired woman I've only really ever waved to, texted me back. 'I've got it! Don't you worry one bit. What's his teacher's name?' She not only went to my house, got the project, and drove it to the school for him, but she included a little bag of gummy frogs with a note that said 'Looks like your rainforest needed a few more inhabitants! From, a friendly neighbor.' When I got home I went over with $40 and a thank you card, and she absolutely refused the money. She just said, 'Oh, honey, it takes a village. We've all been there.' I almost cried. I am absolutely baking her an entire tray of lasagna and about a thousand cookies this weekend.

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