Last Thursday was the day that we had a "plumbing issue" in the bathroom. So my husband was not in the best of moods. So I weighed my options. Going rollerskating with a 2, 4 and a 7 year old by myself, or stay home to observe a "non professional plumber" in action. So off we went. To our luck it was "Christian Music Night" so that means it was only $1.00 to get in.
I took the above picture before the chaos began. Here is how it all went down.
The whole way there I am doing what any mother does. I was thinking up every possible situation where something could go wrong and then solving the problem in my head before we get there. That way this all goes as smoothly as possible.
I wore a hoodie, not because I was cold but because it had a big pocket in the front for my money and debit card and phone and keys. I repeated the order in my head so that it would roll off the tongue when we got there, "I have 4 people to skate tonight , and we need 3 regular skate rentals please." We get there and I see that they have something called a "skate mate." So we add two of those to the order as well. We find a bench to sit on while I get the skates for the ones who need them.
We are all set to go. I explain that we are all to stay together and to help each other out. No pushing, shoving and don't attempt a triple lutz on the first time around. I, one by one, helped them down off the step. Now let me stop there for a minute. A step??? Really?????? Okay moving on. Anna gets off the step, and immediately goes down. I told her just to sit there for a minute. I help Jaden off the step, and he immediately starts to scream. And I don't mean, "aw he is crying" kind of scream. I mean this child is screaming at the top of his lungs as if I told him that a T-Rex was going to be chasing him, and if he didn't learn how to skate before the T-Rex got him, that he wasn't going to be able to come home with us. I told Jaden that this was "Christian music night" and to please not act like this because I would hate to be judged on how I was about to handle this "situation."
So now we have Anna on the floor (sitting patiently) Jaden screaming his ever loving head off. And I reach for Ava. I put her down, she smiles and off she goes. Gone!! I did not see that coming and based on the "situations" that I had resolved in my head earlier, this was not suppose to happen. I look at Anna and say, "get up and try to catch your sister!" She stands up and back down she goes. So I think...."what would Jesus do"...so I left two behind to go get my one lost "sheep" to bring her back.
We finally get all back together and we go to make our first trip around. Anna is falling, Ava is showing off, and Jaden.....well, Jaden is still screaming. He screamed around the first trip, around the second trip and then when we took a break and he screamed through the break too.
I suggested that we all go two more times around and call it a night. I look around and see that someone has taken Ava's skate mate. I see the little culprit and I am telling you this kid did not need a skate mate. He is doing turns and "Mary Poppins Heal clicks" in the air. I remind myself again, "it is Christian music night." So I decide to have a talk with this little criminal ......in my head. In my head I walked up to him and told him, "your lucky I know Jesus now" I also said things like, "If you want to go to heaven, you need to return that skate mate to it's owner" and "listen here you little punk, your mother may not care what you do but I am telling you now.....taking skate mates that don't belong to you is wrong!! Jesus said so, it's in the Message Bible" But, truth is while I had all of those pretend confrontations in my head, I looked up and Ava was 20 feet in front of me just skating along. She didn't care, why should I?
I decide it was time to go ,as Jaden was still screaming. On our way out Ava decided to throw a tantrum because she didn't want to go. So she ran away from me. What would Jesus do??? Well I don't know what He would do, but I ripped up that child and carried her out of that skating rink dragging Jaden behind me. I load them all in the car and said to myself, "Never again!!!"
I pick up supper for everyone, including my non-professional plumber husband, and head home only to find the bathroom totally disassembled and the toilet in the front yard.
I wonder if Jesus knew this was going to happen when he said, "in ALL things give thanks" or if Thursday was an exception for us just once.......
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