Wrangling Kids and Chasing Vans in the Rain

Yesterday morning Justin and I decided to throw the kids in the car and head down to the Seattle area. I don't know if I've mentioned before -but Justin likes to have little side jobs. In the spring and summer he does yard maintenance for our neighbor, in the fall he makes rose hip wreathes to sell and in the winter he tunes and waxes skis and snowboards. Justin was hoping to pick up a special grinder for waxing but...well...shortish story really short... he ended up not getting it.

Since we were in the area though, we decided to make full use of our day by visiting some of our favorite places. We hit Taqueria El Rinconcito for lunch. It's like a taco truck but better because you don't have to eat outside. Our kids love tacos. When I lived in Mexico I didn't really get it when I would see people giggling over their kids doing the signature taco head-turn. But now, when I watch my kids do it I giggle too. Pretty cute.

After lunch we went to Bell Square. I used to hate Bell Square. You see, my husband protects Bell Square and when we lived down there - this rural girl felt really out of place in most situations. Our Volvo wagon and my clogs weren't "in" and I didn't like it. After a brief delusion of believing that one actually should always wear heels with jeans, I'm back to my clog-wearing ways. I walk through Bell Square knowing I don't own the place and probably never will and I smile and visit with people and drag my three children through all the heel-wearing DINKS and they all stare at me curiously. They don't really know how to respond when I chat with them and tell them personal stories at the register. They really don't know how to respond when they tell me I "have my hands full" and I look at them with a smile and tell them my heart is even more full. I love it.

Yesterday, while dropping Justin and the kids off in the Kids Cove, I watched as a poor woman attempted to wrangle her very ill-behaved children. And I'm going to be honest, they were very naughty. When I first saw the distraught mother she was screaming/yelling at her son that she was never bringing him back and that she was going to leave without him. Do idle threats like that bother you as much as they bother me? I mean, of course she is going to bring him back and of course she is not going to leave without him. But that's a conversation for another day. Once the woman would get a handle on her 3? year old daughter, the boy (5?) would go running off in another direction. No shoes, no coat, his pants were falling down for some reason. I watched for a moment. And so did everyone else. We all stood in judgment and peeped at her out of the corners of our eyes, no one willing to actually help her. Which is when I decided that I had nothing to lose and she had a lot to gain by me stepping in.

As I bent down to pick up the boy's sweatshirt to help put it on him, the woman breathlessly described to me how she needed to go pick up her other son from school and she was going to be late. "It sure is hard sometimes." I said to her. "Come here and put your sweatshirt on. You need to obey your mama - she's asking you to do something," I said to the boy. He looked ate me and was off again. Up on a chair and over the railing of the play area. I quickly caught Justin's attention and said, "Grab that kid!" Justin looked at me in bewilderment for a moment. I pointed to his mother standing near the elevator and said, "He's running away from his mom, she needs to leave." Justin then stepped toward the boy and said, "Come here." "Do you know me?" he said to Justin. "Nope." And with that Justin picked him up by the shoulders and dropped him back over the railing where his mom grabbed him and they took off down the elevator.

The whole scene was crazy. As I rode down the elevator with her, the woman didn't even make eye contact with me. Nothing more was said and Xochi and I made our way happily over to Williams Sonoma where I bought my mom a Christmas gift and oohed and ahhed over the Peppermint scent, pining away for last holiday's Mrs. Meyer's. (I couldn't resist the pun but I'm actually, quite surprisingly, enjoying the Iowa Pine)

We made it home just in time to put our kids to bed. All in all it was a fun day.

Oh! You're wondering about the "Chasing Down Vans in the Rain" part? I'll just say that it involved Justin dropping me off in front of Target, me forgetting to grab my bag of stuff to return, Justin taking off, me then running to wave him down in the pouring rain and my all-too-focused-on-Costco-gas husband speeding away just as I thought I would catch up with him. I could barely breathe I was laughing so hard. So off I went, laughing and running in the rain (I had also left my cell phone in the van) the probable two or more blocks over to Costco gas where Justin stared in astonishment at my dripping wet self as I burst out, cracking up, "YOU NEED TO PAY MORE ATTENTION TO WHAT'S GOING ON AROUND YOU!!!"

We got a good laugh out of it and Justin noted to me:

Several years ago in our marriage you might not have responded so well.

He's right, and I am continually thankful that laughter fills so many of our days.