Proof that I don't suck as a parent

We were out late visiting Mike's family. It was an exception since we have barely seen his sister or the younger girls over the last year, but we stayed late and then still had to get some things on the way home. Thank goodness for 24 hour stores, am I right?
I was shopping quietly with the younger two, Mike had the oldest with him, when a man walks up to me and says he's glad that he's not the only one that brings his kids to the store late. I must have looked confused, because he elaborated with his experiences, being looked at funny or chided for having children out so late. I made some polite comment about it being a good time to shop since the kids are tired and calm and there aren't a ton of people to dodge. He looked surprised for a minute then told me that he seriously doubted that we needed to come so late for that reason since my children had been so well behaved.
Feeling the glow of a complement from a complete stranger, I walked on to meet up with Mike and our oldest and get the rest of our list. My oldest jumped up onto something that was not meant to be stood on and my middle son quickly followed suit. Both Mike and I said at the same time, Get down, that's not for playing on. From further down an aisle an employee stopped what she was doing, walked over to us and told us that it was a real pleasure to have customers like us, who made our children behave.
Some days I feel like I must have failed somewhere along the line, I must not have taught them something essential, and then a day like that comes along and proves we haven't done half bad. I hoard those moments in my memory and bring them out to replay when I feel like a failure.