My embarrassment outshone my ability to see Brian’s action for what it was…
After the sermon, my boys were invited to the front of the church where mom and dad’s grandsons were introduced to the church. When time came to pass the collection plate, it began with those standing at the front of the church. I watched as my dad reached into his pocket and handed my oldest son Mike an offering for the plate, then he turned to Brian who shook his head and reached into his back pocket. In front of my disbelieving eyes, he pulled out his worn out brown sock of money! I held my breath as Brian went through the motions I had watched so many times at home. He held the bulging roll at eye level, grabbed the top of the sock, and let it fall open. As it hit full length and came to a jingling, crashing halt I prayed it would not choose this moment to burst open and to my relief…it held one more time.
The church was silent. As I looked around, I realized that everyone’s eyes were on my son. Their puzzled interest grew as he held up the sock and by the time it unrolled and hit bottom, it seemed he had hypnotized the whole congregation. They watched as Brian took the plate. Carefully, he placed it on the floor, reached into the sock, and pull out a small handful of his precious savings. After dropping his coins into the plate, he picked it up and passed it on then carefully rolled up the sock and once again put it in the safety of his back pocket. I heard an audible hiss and realized that I had been holding my breath. I wanted nothing more than to press a button and disappear! I felt my face flush with embarrassment as I lowered my eyes to my lap. My son had just stood in front of the whole church and displayed a dirty, stretched and well-worn sock as a holding place for his money AND he did it with the flourish of a veteran magician.
I waited for the giggles but none came. I looked for people talking among themselves but no one spoke. In fact, everything was the same as before the ’sock’ appeared. When church ended, I thought surely someone would mention the minister’s grandson and his brown sock but no one did.
When we reached the car, I mentioned my embarrassment to mom and dad; they told me that what they witnessed that morning was so endearing that it brought tears to their eyes. They said that Brian’s innocent display of generosity caused many tears besides their own. I wondered how I missed that but then I realized…I was so busy looking for adverse reactions that I missed the message Brian’s innocent gesture sent out.
That day was more than thirty years ago. I think of it often but no longer as an embarrassment. Instead, it is a fond memory of a lesson learned from a very young teacher and one brown sock.
The innocence of a child disappears all too soon.
Sounds like you both learned a valuable lesson… 
He was a cute little guy, eh?
Thanks for sharing Darlene…and I learned something too…I never knew that Canada also suffered through a Great Depression!
Great story.
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