There are times that I wonder if my colleagues have secret meetings without me and schedule our days so that at all times, at least one of them, is misbehaving. I’ve never actually come across the little planners I picture, but I won’t be surprised if I ever do.
Now, as regular readers know, we have a heavy lifter, if you will, someone who carries the bulk of the naughty behavior, but even a work horse needs a break and then one of the little fillies is right there with a whole new twist.
The other night at bedtime, Eden must have had “Push Mom to the limit” in pen in her planner. I won’t give you the gory details. Suffice it to say she was naughty, repeatedly. I stayed calm and firm and took away some privileges, which ticked her off. She was screaming and yelling blame at me, as I tucked her in, kissed her and left the room. Sweet dreams.
I was done with her. Had the gypsies happened by at that moment I would have gladly packed her suitcase and carried it out to the caravan, so it’s good that they didn’t. I went and sat on my bed. She continued to scream and yell. I practiced breathing. In the repeated exhalation and inhalation some of the anger was released and a little compassion came in it’s place. It stinks to fall asleep crying, blaming someone else for your unhappy situation that, if you’re honest, you know is your own fault.
I went back in and asked Eden if she wanted to pray. She said she didn’t know what to say. I said I thought she did and waited. She prayed and asked God to forgive her and then she apologized to me and I forgave her and then I told her to roll over so I could scratch her back and while I did that I sang a soft song that I’ve been singing to her since before she was born. Any of the tightness remaining eased and I felt her relax.
The song ended, but I continued to stroke and scratch her back.
“Does that feel better?” I asked.
She turned her head and whispered, “It’s like we’re making a movie, but we didn’t get it right the first time, so we get to make it again.”
Yes. I’m just learning this myself, but that’s exactly how it is.