28 March 2007
Frustration turns to happiness after break-down
Today, I have to give credit to the little ones. They saved my morning.
It all started out in the usual fashion — fighting about clothes, rummaging through the cabinet to find peanut-free healthy snacks for school, piling them in the car as fast as we could so that we might be only 10 minutes late...
Then I began the trek to school ranting in my usual fashion that there would be no more television in the morning because I was tired of being late. I hadn’t showered and was wearing oversized sweatpants with an old sweatshirt. Halfway around the block I realized I had forgotten my cell phone and wallet, it was too late to go back and I didn’t really need my phone or license, right?
We were driving through a very exclusive neighborhood and had just gone by the horses to say good morning when my car suddenly started to decelerate. It is an old car, but it was one we thought we could afford.
As we are slowing to a stop I am cursing the car gods and my self for not listening to lights and sounds my car has been trying to tell me. Of course, it comes to a complete stop at the end of a small side street, blocking the way of anyone coming or going.
The kids are wondering out loud what is going on.
“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know,” I tell them. What I do know is that I wish I had gone back for my phone and wallet. I get out to push the car to a safer, less conspicuous spot. I am pushing away and a nice gentleman stops to help. As soon as he approaches with his kind smile, my heart sinks. He is an off-duty police officer, which is who you would want to help in most situations, but my car’s inspection sticker has expired, I don’t have my license and I am sure that he is going to notice all this.
He doesn’t though — and we push the car to the side of the road. I take the kids out and tell them we are going to have to walk the rest of the way to school. Kiara is quick to note that walking will only make us later and that has nothing to do with her watching television.
By now I am ready to cry. I am looking around at these mini-mansions with perfectly manicured lawns. I take notice of every high-end vehicle parked in the driveways and just feel like I don’t belong ... like a failure who has let my family down, making my kids walk to school. I am embarrassed and frustrated.
Then they put it all back together for me.
Kiara takes no interest in the houses and everything we don’t have and notes how cute Anna looks in the stroller. Liam, who hates his car seat, is thrilled that he can run to school. They chatter the whole way there without one complaint. They think it is all fun. They don’t know that cars aren’t supposed to stop a mile before their destination. I don’t look like an unkempt slob; they thought my pushing the car was an unbelievable show of super-hero strength.
I didn’t let them down. In fact, they might even ask if we could walk again tomorrow. They made my day.