Somebody pay attention
John Brittingham, a father of five, was cruising through Cocoa Beach, FL on Sunday after wrapping up a real estate drone photo shoot when he saw two toddlers in the middle of the 5 lane A1A boulevard. The A1A is considered the most dangerous stretch of highway in Brevard County for bicyclists and pedestrians. John drives with a video camera in his windshield, so when he pulled to side of the road his camera got some grainy pictures of his interaction with the children and the traffic. In video footage shared on Sunday John can be seen running along the road waving his arms toward two young girls in the middle of the road, as a white car approaches them. By the time he reached them one of the toddlers was already in the dead center of the road, with the other following not far behind.
He personally halted traffic to help two little girls. John scooped up the first toddler, who had wandered into the middle of the road, in one arm while waving his free hand to stop the other drivers on the road. The second girl, who was closer to the sidewalk, shuffled out to him and held her arms out. John hardly missed a beat as he bent down and picked her up before briskly walking to the sidewalk and down a residential street, according to his car’s dash camera footage. “I was terrified thinking of what could have happened to them. The rest of my life would have been ruined,” Brittingham told WESH. The girls were back on the sidewalk within six seconds, but their parents were nowhere in sight.
He surmised the pair couldn’t have been older than 2 years old, and were simply “adorable” as they “put their little arms out” to be carried to safety. Brittingham went door to door on a nearby street in a desperate attempt to locate the girls’ family. The good Samaritan eventually arrived at an Airbnb and, after a fair amount of shouting, got the occupants’ attention. John was told the outlet that the toddlers’ family, consisting of “an elderly couple and a young girl.” The babies’ family, who were staying in a nearby rental home where the backyard gate was open. John said the family apologized profusely, but told him they hadn’t realized the toddlers had gone missing from the backyard. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I know, I’m just glad I could get them back to you. They were out in the road, and your gate was open.’” John said he didn’t call the police because his “main concern was to reunite the family.”
From the mouths of babes
Realizing that their home just wasn’t big enough with the new baby in the house, Little Johnny’s parents discussed moving to a bigger one. Little Johnny sat patiently listening to his parents, then piped in, “It’s no use. He’ll just follow us anyway.”
“It’s better for girls to be single, but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.” Anita, age 9
What do you think your Mom and Dad have in common?
“They both don’t want no more kids.” Lori, age 8
“I was very unpopular child,” says comedian Rita Rovner. “I had only two friends.
They were imaginary. They would only play with each other.”
January 16th Birthdays
1951 – Debbie Allen, 1932 – Dian Fossey, 1974 – Kate Moss, 1946 – Laura Schlessinger
1981 – Lin Mavel Miranda, 1986 – Joe Flacco, 1995 – Curran Walters, 1980 – Albert Pujols