Tossing my Wristwatch
Yesterday was a lovely day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and we...the 4 kids and I were going shopping. We were shopping for many thing, but skateboards and fancy clothes for their school closing were top priority this day. It's crazy how fast 5 hours can fly by while shopping...remember, shopping is an olympic sport for me...and my oldest son inherited my strength, determination and efficiency required for this buyatholon. The two of us dragged the other 3 though our thrift store gauntlet, but they were troopers and found their own treasures along the way.
Besides the chewing gum getting stuck on car window and rolled down into oblivion, we had one rather large moment where I almost hit "the wall". I took the two younger ones to the car in the mall parking lot while the big boys left us to secretly buy their sister a pretty pink cowgirl hat for her birthday. I gave the oh so important instructions to meet us a particular mall entrance when they completed their sweet errand. They didn't hear that part. There are a total of about 500 entrances to that mall (ok...I exaggerate again...but it felt like that many). It was supper time. We were hungry and tired. We had an event to attend in an hour. I'm an Olympic shopper who does not sit or rest while shopping...it makes me crazy. So I had to pull out my mental coping skills and I don't have many of them.
Precious time painfully ticked away as my two younger kids wisely and quietly followed me through the consumer jungle, hunting for their siblings. The imagination goes a little crazy at these moments for me. I had ridiculous images of a bad man throwing my 6 foot 1 inch son over his shoulder and stuffing him into his candy filled car, with my careful son blindly following. Fortunately, I had some sense about me and I realized that I was just annoyed, not afraid and that I needed patience more than anything. Even my 9 year old said, "Mom...their not kidnapped...they're too big." My mind knew that, but my body doesn't just forget a lifetime of fear that quickly.
I MADE myself forget the time, throw away my schedule and just relax. I needed to walk in the Spirit and have self control and gentleness. We stopped in the middle of the mall, held hands and prayed that God would help me calm down and find the boys. Hopefully no one thought my two young ones and I were trying to cast out evil, materialistic, seductive devils from the mall...although...there's an idea ;)
It takes a minute or two for me to switch my brain from feelings to logic, but I DID IT! After driving around to several other entrances in search, calling their delightful names on the mall intercom...twice, and checking the mens' washroom (no, I didn't go in) I called my husband at work to see if they might have called him for direction...THEY DID! He told me where they were, I went to them, publicly beat them and then sold them at the last Thrift store we visited...cheaply.
No, actually, I hugged them and commended them on how they handled the situation. Then reached WAY up and scuffed the oldest on the head for not listening to my directions. I wasn't too hard on him because he gets it from me. Too focused and rushed getting the job done to really listen to details.
The rest of the town trip was really quite enjoyable, because I abandoned my schedule. I threw efficiency to the wind and let my hair down, frolicking in irresponsible timelessness. It was nice...involuntary, but nice.
On a more serious note, the unthinkable does happen sometimes. Friends of mine are still looking for their sister Kim Amero who went missing 25 years ago at the ANE in Saint John. She would be my age...she was 16 at the time. Please pray for her and her family.
Besides the chewing gum getting stuck on car window and rolled down into oblivion, we had one rather large moment where I almost hit "the wall". I took the two younger ones to the car in the mall parking lot while the big boys left us to secretly buy their sister a pretty pink cowgirl hat for her birthday. I gave the oh so important instructions to meet us a particular mall entrance when they completed their sweet errand. They didn't hear that part. There are a total of about 500 entrances to that mall (ok...I exaggerate again...but it felt like that many). It was supper time. We were hungry and tired. We had an event to attend in an hour. I'm an Olympic shopper who does not sit or rest while shopping...it makes me crazy. So I had to pull out my mental coping skills and I don't have many of them.
Precious time painfully ticked away as my two younger kids wisely and quietly followed me through the consumer jungle, hunting for their siblings. The imagination goes a little crazy at these moments for me. I had ridiculous images of a bad man throwing my 6 foot 1 inch son over his shoulder and stuffing him into his candy filled car, with my careful son blindly following. Fortunately, I had some sense about me and I realized that I was just annoyed, not afraid and that I needed patience more than anything. Even my 9 year old said, "Mom...their not kidnapped...they're too big." My mind knew that, but my body doesn't just forget a lifetime of fear that quickly.
I MADE myself forget the time, throw away my schedule and just relax. I needed to walk in the Spirit and have self control and gentleness. We stopped in the middle of the mall, held hands and prayed that God would help me calm down and find the boys. Hopefully no one thought my two young ones and I were trying to cast out evil, materialistic, seductive devils from the mall...although...there's an idea ;)
It takes a minute or two for me to switch my brain from feelings to logic, but I DID IT! After driving around to several other entrances in search, calling their delightful names on the mall intercom...twice, and checking the mens' washroom (no, I didn't go in) I called my husband at work to see if they might have called him for direction...THEY DID! He told me where they were, I went to them, publicly beat them and then sold them at the last Thrift store we visited...cheaply.
No, actually, I hugged them and commended them on how they handled the situation. Then reached WAY up and scuffed the oldest on the head for not listening to my directions. I wasn't too hard on him because he gets it from me. Too focused and rushed getting the job done to really listen to details.
The rest of the town trip was really quite enjoyable, because I abandoned my schedule. I threw efficiency to the wind and let my hair down, frolicking in irresponsible timelessness. It was nice...involuntary, but nice.
On a more serious note, the unthinkable does happen sometimes. Friends of mine are still looking for their sister Kim Amero who went missing 25 years ago at the ANE in Saint John. She would be my age...she was 16 at the time. Please pray for her and her family.
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