Lessons Learned

Today was one of those days that if it never happened again I would be okay with it. :)

I've never enjoyed being sick but having two kids and being sick is WORSE! I have a sore throat and with that comes feeling really tired and less patience than usual. I had every intention of being a good sport though. Emily had been invited out to Coe's to ride Tex (their pony.) I arranged to meet Landon in town at 12. (He figured he would be off of work by then.) After sitting at the bus stop for 35 minutes (11:20-11:55) I decided to call it quits head to my parents' house, feed Collin and go to the bus stop at 12:20 when I knew the bus came by. I left a message for Landon at Sears letting him know we would arrive at 1:00. At 12:10 I watched the bus drive by from my parents living room. I was in tears. My wonderful sister in law volunteered to drive us into town and off we went. She dropped us off at Sears and then everything went crazy. Landon had gotten off work a half an hour earlier and so I decided to walk to where the bus would have dropped us off. Emily had other plans..... See Emily had been perfect while waiting for the bus but on the way to my parents house she decided to play chicken with a car and I barely caught her. The car was able to stop because it had seen her but still I was NOT HAPPY! Well I think she must have been a little suicidal today because she repeated this antic TWICE on the way from Sears to the bus stop at the mall. I was feeling a little frazzled so I picked her up and carried her on my left side (she was screaming) while my right arm was holding Collin and his carseat and all other paraphenalia. I thought I saw Landon so I tried running like this and calling his name for help. Yeah wasn't him.... We waited but he didn't show up by one so I started to walk to find the car. Emily trailed behind me screaming my name. Not nice words were running through my mind. I just wanted to call it quits, go home and bury my head under the covers. Finally Emily cried out that she wanted her blankie which meant she wanted me to wrap it around her and carry her. So I did. I walked, carrying both, across the road to a big grassy area. I sat down and just held Emily and rocked her. Collin by this time had stopped screaming and was sleeping in his car seat. As I sat there holding my little girl I realized something. I hadn't lost it! I had kept my cool and because of that I wasn't in the middle of apologizing for anything. What a great feeling! As I sat there I thought, "Here I am with the chance to snuggle my little girl and enjoy nice weather. If Landon doesn't find us I will just catch the next bus home. There is no reason to be upset." And with that all the anger left.
(Landon did find us and all was well.)

I hope that I remember this lesson. It is a choice to become angry. I need to enjoy my children. And I need to realize that if it takes a little longer to get somewhere, oh well, enjoy the journey. Oh and its probably not a good idea to take your kids out by yourself when you are sick..... :)

(FYI the bus schedule just changed for the weekends. Next time I will check the schedule!)