Not Just an Ordinary Day

This morning I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. My patience was thin and my kids were testing me, so I decided we needed a change of scenery for the day. I packed up the kids and headed to St. Cloud where I had pictures waiting since February to be picked up. I thought we could go to the mall, pick up the pictures, play at the indoor play area (since it's April 9th and snowy), get some groceries and lunch and head home.

We did indeed find the pictures waiting for us, and headed over to the play area. There was a little boy playing too who looked to be about 5. At one point I saw Tate fall off of one of the play things (that he had worked really hard to conquer), and then noticed that 5 year old on top of where Tate used to be. I thought that maybe he had pushed Tate off, but since I didn't see anything happen, I figured I'd let it be. A bit later, Tate was standing on top of a hollow log. This time I watched as this little boy came up and hit my son in the legs trying to knock him down - twice. I don't know about other moms, but I get mama-bearish at times like that. Since his parents were in a place where they couldn't see what he was doing, I told that boy to knock it off (okay, I said it a little nicer than that, in a way a 5 year old would understand, but I felt like telling him what I really thought. Don't forget that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.) As we walked down the hall after leaving, I practiced with Tate how to be respectfully assertive in a situation like that. I don't want my kid to be the one who's always picked on. That was Tate's life-lesson for the day.

From there, we decided that lunch was the next stop. Since I had a craving for Chipotle yesterday, and we don't have one of those in our town, that is where we I decided we'd go for lunch. I had a general idea of where it was, but wasn't super confident in how to get there. Nevertheless, we headed out on the streets of St. Cloud, only to arrive at Chipotle about 30 minutes later. Was Chipotle actually 30 minutes away, you ask? Why no. Actually, it is about 3 minutes away. When I was thoroughly lost, I called my mom in Apple Valley who graciously looked up a map of St. Cloud, along with the Chipotle's address and guided me there. Who says you don't need your mommy when you're 32?

A lot of confusion and a couple U-turns later, the kids and I made it to the restaurant. Tate loves tacos, so I knew it would be a hit with him. I excitedly told Norah while we waited in line that I would get her a quesadilla just like the one mommy made yesterday. We made it through the line, found our seats, set down our food and my sweet little 2 year old says, "ques-dilla?" Yep, this mommy forgot to get one of her children any food for lunch. I looked at the line, and realized I couldn't wait in line while my kids sat at the table by themselves, so I got her started on chips and some of the pork from Tate's taco. The line never did really go down enough for me to make a quick trip up to buy my daughter some lunch, so she went without her quesadilla. But you know, she never brought it up again while she munched on food from Tate's plate. Thankful.

One of the benefits of getting lost is that you find things along the way that you didn't know were there. On one of my wrong turns in my failed efforts to find Chipotle, I stumbled upon Walmart. I silently said, "Thanks, God for helping me find Walmart, 'cause I want to go there after lunch," so when all the kids were strapped in after our delightful meal, we headed to Walmart since I now knew where it was.

You know how there're signs on the bathroom doors in stores that say, "No merchandise beyond this point?" I broke that rule today. What's a mom to do when one child says in the middle of her shopping trip, "Mom, I have to poop." You bring the other two kids and the cart into the bathroom with you. That's what you do.

Then, there's that glorious moment when you discover half-way through checkout that you don't have your wallet. Searching, searching. Relief! You have the checkbook! Problem solved, right? Wrong. The cashier says that she needs to see my ID in order for the check to go through. Ummm....that's in my wallet that is more than 50 miles away on my kitchen counter. "Can I call my husband so he can give you a credit card number?" "No, we need the person present. I'm sorry, without ID, there's nothing we can do." The manager then tells the employee standing next to her to get a cart so he can take my food and re-shelve it. At this point, I am trying not to cry while I gather up my things and my children and make my way out of the store without my food. Meanwhile, my son is repeatedly telling me, "Mom, I want our stuff back." "Mom, where's our stuff?" There was a kind woman who saw my tears on the way out of the store who asked if I was okay. I assured her that yes, I was okay, just thoroughly embarrassed. I know, someday I'll be able to laugh. But not today. When we arrived home, my husband assured me that everything was okay, and he went to the local grocery store to pick up the food we needed for supper.

A potty accident and a spilled cup of milk later, the kids are in bed and my eyes are tired. Through it all, I'm pretty sure God's got a lesson in it all for me (and maybe for the Walmart employees who were probably a little uncomfortable when their customer walked away crying. I'm guessing it doesn't happen every day.) All I have to say is this:

Tomorrow is a new day.