My girlfriends come to pick me up for a baby shower. On the way out the door I sense I need to remind my husband that when he runs errands with the kids, he needs to take them inside whatever store he goes into. He does not need to leave them in the car, even for two minutes. "But it's not even hot outside!" Suspicions confirmed. I tell my children it is illegal for them to stay in the car and they may need to remind their father.
The tissue paper in my shower gift is immediately crumpled upon entering my friend's vehicle and "My Brest Friend" peeks out the top. I say "piece of crap" in front of my friend's little girl. I may need a spanking with the wooden spoon we find in her car. I later thank the gift recipient for allowing me to buy something called "My Brest Friend."
After the shower I horrify my children with a date to get our flu shots. The Walgreens clinic is closed but CVS has a "free flu shot" sign. The pharmacists don't seem real excited when we show up. After waiting 15 minutes, I find out the shots won't be free because of our insurance. I say I don't care at this point; I just want to get all three done in the same place. I pay. My daughter begins weeping uncontrollably. An older lady smiles at my daughter's misery and thinks I don't see her. I want to punch her. I do not.
The pharmacist comes out and gives me the first shot. I see someone I know but I don't know if she sees me. I smile like it tickled so my girl will be brave. It did not tickle. My daughter immediately runs screaming through the aisles and I have to chase her down. I have a strange sense that we might be on the news later. Or YouTube. My daughter gets her shot. The screaming is horrible. The promised toys are not picked out because I am shaking from embarrassment and need to leave as soon as possible. I tell the children that now we will have to change pharmacies because they have humiliated me and I can never go back there. They don't really know what that means.
Mom is mad. Kids are mad and sad.
I cool off and we make our way to a grocery store where we all pick out a treat. Toy is downgraded to candy. Annabeth gets Reese's Pieces, Jackson gets the Hershey Kisses with the caramel center, and I get Dots. Annabeth opens up her big bag of Reese's in the car and 60% of them spill out immediately. I open the window and tell the kids to throw those candies out so they don't later melt and make a mess. I realize the children are pelting the car next to us.
We go, as planned, to Studio Movie Grill to see Dolphin Tale 2. Fifteen minutes into the movie Jackson thinks he's going to throw up. We all run out and he goes into the mens room. Annabeth and I wait for him. He comes out and says he's okay. We go back in the theater. I hear a woman behind us complain to a server that we have disrupted her peace. I ask for the check and pay for our food in case we have to leave quickly. The woman is still grumbling. A kid behind us spills her drink and it splashes on us. Jackson is still acting weird so we leave. I cannot take another embarrassing scene today. Annabeth does not follow us out and I stand on the side trying to coax her without disrupting the whole theater. She comes. The grumpy lady with no mercy gets up and tells her daughter they are moving. How have we managed to draw so much attention today?
When my son goes to bed he says he's hungry. I want his stomach to rest and I don't want him to eat. I tell him I won't eat again either. (That lasts until 11 PM when I retrieve my Dots from the car.) He's hungry enough to cry about it. He cries harder than I've seen him cry in a very long time. When Beckham died he'd held it all in. I rub his back and I know he's not just crying about food. The stress of going back to school is exiting his body. My happy boy who has been so mopey about third grade. Hot, salty tears are pouring out. It's hard to grow up. When your sister loves kindergarten but third grade is a lot of work and you don't have anything exciting to say about it. It's crappy when you get a flu shot and then have to leave a movie early and then mess up your Lego creation and have to go to bed on an empty stomach because who knows if you have a stomach bug.
I pray over my boy and knead his shoulders his body rests.
New mercies will be here soon.
20 comments:
Amanda, I'm sorry you had such a hard day! But you are such a blessing to other moms of small children! I wish we had blogs to read about REAL motherhood when my kids were little. I just had to get through those days the best I could, trying to figure out what was normal....and what was not. I spent my Saturday in Ft. Wayne with your mama....and was blessed beyond measure. Love her and you all!
I rarely comment on blogs but I just have to say, girl ain't parenting so easy *sarcasm text*.
My favorite is when my kid is mid-meltdown in HEB over a Lunchable, again, and a blue haired customer feels the need to stop and impart her pearls of insight on me *read guilt* as she says "treasure these days they go by so fast". I want to say to her "really, because right now I'd really like for this day to go ahead and flash by with a blink of my eye cause I can tell ya I ain't treasuring anything about this lady. And while I'm at it I'm sure you didn't treasure these little incidents either, probably only like 30% of these years and now you're just tryng to heap guilt on me for the other 70% you wished away too. So keep walking!" Course I'm a nice texas girl and I just smile and say that is, but I have a mouth on me and I'd really like to say what I'm thinking. Phew!
Anyway, sorry you had a bad day girl.
Sounds like you took all the hits for your Mama today. Tomorrow is fresh and new. You are still a great wife, Mama, friend and citizen, Amanda. Praying for you, sweet one.
I bookmarked this immediately. I'm going to need it someday for reasons of solidarity and comic relief.
Boy...I really feel you here. One foot in front of the other some days. (Hearing about that older lady at the drugstore really boils my blood though, some people are really sick).
Ugh that WAS a hard day!! I hope your boy is ok, and that y'all get to see the rest of the movie! Thank heavens for sleep and new days everyday! Blessings joy laughter and an easier day tomorrow on you, in Jesus name
Oh my gosh, this reminds me of the day I took all my kids to the dentist with a promise to eat fast food afterward (which never happened owing to the dental experience). Suffice it to say I thought I'd have to enter the Witness Protection Program after inflicting my children on society. And I think "I hate everything" came out of my mouth a few dozen times. Maybe more.
Those days are the pits, I know. It reminds me of one of my favorite books as a kid, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day." All of us mamas have been there (more than once!) and know that indeed His mercies are new each morning. I'm saying a little prayer for you right now that your family will have peace and laughter today. It's the Lord's day and may His light shine brightly and warm the walls of your home and hearts.
I love your blog. I've missed it. It really is so refreshing.
I've really enjoyed catching up on what y'all have been up to. Thanks for being so transparent. Your honesty about your struggles is an encouragement to me.
Shots are no fun here either. My laid back Avery turns into a freak when needles are around. We started getting the "flu mist" vaccine for her b/c she is that difficult to manage around shots. Maybe Annabeth could get that next year? Hope today is happier! :)
you are not alone! being a mom is freakin hard. thankful for new mercies and grace enough for the whole wide world.
Your first paragraph was soooooo me....sadly the rest of it was also! Haha
You are a good, good mama.
I'm laughing not at you but laughing with you, for this makes me smile that I'm not only one to have such a 'colorful' day. Thank you Jesus there is tomorrow, right?
I feel your pain. Third grade is rough and this year is so crappy. I am on a mission to make the rest of this year go by quickly and even though the weather outside isn't quite fall, I have moved on to full on Autumn mode at the house because we need to be in a new season.
Wow, I've had these kind of days...thankfully few and far between. Hope your week goes better! Thanks for your "real-ness". :)
I love how honest you are. Don't you just love those "typical" days of motherhood!
Thank you for sharing the "real" moments. Not that we want to hear everyone's "crap"...but it's always nice to know that we are alone.....in the good days and the bad ones. I appreciate transparency and authenticity....and I have definitely had those days. Praying your week gets better!
I think you need to go get yourself a big girl toy. Stat.
You've endured a rough Mommy-day, way to go! It sounds to me like you shouldered it, endured and ended on a positive note. Well done.
Another idea: Flu-mist. Not fun, but way better than a crummy shot.
Dear Amanda, Hi my name is Sam and I live in Queensland, Australia. I found your blog around February last year through Big Mama, Boo Mama and Kelly's Korner. I love these ladies so I thought I would check your blog out but at the time it was private. Anyway a couple of months ago I happened to see your name on the side and I thought I would check it again and I was so happy because it was no longer private. So, as I do when I find a blog I like, I went back to the start and have read all the posts up until this. I have laughed, cried, smiled and learned a lot. I'm so glad I had this chance. I am in awe of your faith and all that your family has done and is doing. I am new in my faith and I am taking it all in. I have loved how real you are and I have loved seeing Jackson and Annabeth grow up so far. I felt so sad for you when I read about your cat Bill. I know how that feels and I miss him for you. I know it was seven years ago but I read it not long ago. I just about lost it when I read your tribute for Beckham, it still makes me sad. I am so sorry. I am a massive dog lover and to see how you all loved him, was beautiful. I actually saw that he passed on Twitter but I was still reading about him in your archives. He was just a lovely boy. I just also want to pass on my love to you over all you've been dealing with in your adoption process. My heart broke for you all.....
Hope you have better days than this Saturday you had. Needles aren't fun for anyone. That lady at the movie sounded rude and yes, growing up can/is very hard!
Much love and can't wait to read more. xoxo
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