Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The People I Meet......
Today I got up at 6:00am and cleaned my house. All these lazy days of summer have really done a number on my housekeeping. We were in serious need of some deep cleaning.
By 9:30 I had cleaned the entire downstairs, in peace, as no one but Paige was awake yet.
I woke up the other kids and told them to get up and get ready for the day. I was going to run a few errands and would be back in an hour and wanted them all dressed and pretty when I returned. The boys love it when I say this.
After my errands I picked up the kids and we headed out for one of our favorite activities.
Bowling.
I had a great coupon and was ready for a few hours in the nice air conditioned bowling alley.
A family with three children was bowling next to us. They had brought there grandparents with them and we had fun watching them bowl and they were watching us as well.
After we had been there about an hour the grandparents came over to me and said the sweetest thing.
They complimented me on my children and said they were the best behaved and most polite children they had seen in a long time. Now, my initial reaction was to look around and see whose children they must have mistaken for my own. Surely they were not talking about my little monsters.
As it turns out they were talking about my children. I have to admit it made me feel really good. Kind of like when a boss comes in and gives you a great big compliment on the job you have been doing.
Don't we all like to hear we are doing a good job? I know I do.
We left the bowling alley after playing our two games and I decided to run into Henry's on the way home for fresh fruit and milk.
I pulled into the parking spot and told all the kids to jump out. Samantha was sitting in the front seat and opened her door a little to quickly and slammed it into the car parked next to ours.
A brand new white Mercedes. Without even it's permanent license plate on it yet.
A very nice scratch was now across the whole front door with blue paint from the suburban smeared into it.
Great!
At this point I must admit something. I seriously thought about moving my Suburban to the other side of the parking lot so I wouldn't have to deal with this, I was sure to be, irate new car owner.
But I didn't. What kind of example would that have set for my children?
We ran into the store and collected a few things and were back out in 10 minutes. When I was walking back to the car I saw that the Mercedes was still there so I told the kids we would put a note on her windshield with our phone number on it so we could have the paint on her car fixed.
Right as we got to the car this young woman jumped around the side of the car and confronted us. She was crying hysterically telling me I had ruined her new car.
The boys in our family being ever so helpful said "No, my Mom didn't do it. She did!" Pointing at there sister who then looked as if she would burst into tears at any moment herself.
I went over and looked at the woman's car again thinking maybe I had missed something because all this hysteria certainly couldn't be because of a little paint scratched off of her car.
But it was.
Even after I told her that I would make sure the paint on her door got repaired, and had given her my name and phone number, and insisted again I would have it fixed, she still looked like the most tragic event in her life had just taken place.
Finally, I said this to her.
You really need to settle down. No one has died here. This is just a car. I will fix it. Everything will be OK.
The woman then looked at me and said with a straight face. "Perhaps you didn't notice that this is a BRAND NEW CAR worth perhaps even more than one of your children."
Perhaps lady, but haven't you heard, my children are at least polite.
By 9:30 I had cleaned the entire downstairs, in peace, as no one but Paige was awake yet.
I woke up the other kids and told them to get up and get ready for the day. I was going to run a few errands and would be back in an hour and wanted them all dressed and pretty when I returned. The boys love it when I say this.
After my errands I picked up the kids and we headed out for one of our favorite activities.
Bowling.
I had a great coupon and was ready for a few hours in the nice air conditioned bowling alley.
A family with three children was bowling next to us. They had brought there grandparents with them and we had fun watching them bowl and they were watching us as well.
After we had been there about an hour the grandparents came over to me and said the sweetest thing.
They complimented me on my children and said they were the best behaved and most polite children they had seen in a long time. Now, my initial reaction was to look around and see whose children they must have mistaken for my own. Surely they were not talking about my little monsters.
As it turns out they were talking about my children. I have to admit it made me feel really good. Kind of like when a boss comes in and gives you a great big compliment on the job you have been doing.
Don't we all like to hear we are doing a good job? I know I do.
We left the bowling alley after playing our two games and I decided to run into Henry's on the way home for fresh fruit and milk.
I pulled into the parking spot and told all the kids to jump out. Samantha was sitting in the front seat and opened her door a little to quickly and slammed it into the car parked next to ours.
A brand new white Mercedes. Without even it's permanent license plate on it yet.
A very nice scratch was now across the whole front door with blue paint from the suburban smeared into it.
Great!
At this point I must admit something. I seriously thought about moving my Suburban to the other side of the parking lot so I wouldn't have to deal with this, I was sure to be, irate new car owner.
But I didn't. What kind of example would that have set for my children?
We ran into the store and collected a few things and were back out in 10 minutes. When I was walking back to the car I saw that the Mercedes was still there so I told the kids we would put a note on her windshield with our phone number on it so we could have the paint on her car fixed.
Right as we got to the car this young woman jumped around the side of the car and confronted us. She was crying hysterically telling me I had ruined her new car.
The boys in our family being ever so helpful said "No, my Mom didn't do it. She did!" Pointing at there sister who then looked as if she would burst into tears at any moment herself.
I went over and looked at the woman's car again thinking maybe I had missed something because all this hysteria certainly couldn't be because of a little paint scratched off of her car.
But it was.
Even after I told her that I would make sure the paint on her door got repaired, and had given her my name and phone number, and insisted again I would have it fixed, she still looked like the most tragic event in her life had just taken place.
Finally, I said this to her.
You really need to settle down. No one has died here. This is just a car. I will fix it. Everything will be OK.
The woman then looked at me and said with a straight face. "Perhaps you didn't notice that this is a BRAND NEW CAR worth perhaps even more than one of your children."
Perhaps lady, but haven't you heard, my children are at least polite.
9 Comments:
Holy crap, the insane things some people will say!
So let's disregard Ms. Mercedes and her bad behavior and dwell on the lovely behavior of your children. Isn't it just one of the nicest blessings when someone compliments you on your children? Makes us feel like we're doing something right, huh?
How nice to have someone compliment your children like that! What a compliment to your parenting!
Well, obviously she doesn't have kids, or she'd know they are WAY more expensive than that car. LOL. The stupid things some people say.
How nice to have a stranger compliment you on your kids. I need to remember to do that more often when I see kids who behave. Moms are never told they're doing a good job enough.
Hopefully one day that woman will realize how shallow she is. Unbelievable! I was in an accident when I was 16, it was my fault, but also a freak accident. The older woman also involved in the accident's first words were, "Look what you did to my car!!!!" It was a bad enough accident that me or my passenger could have been badly hurt, but she never asked about that.
So sad.
I cannot even believe someone would say something like that! WOW! Obviously, she has no children, or she would know that her car, no matter the cost, doesn't even begin to compare! Congrats on the compliment as well. It is so nice to get a pat on the back.
Miss Mercedes needs to stick it where the sun doesn't shine...oh, I'm sorry--I didn't mean to say that--YES I DID! A brighter note- I love when people stop to pay a compliment. Especially when it involves your children. It just puts icing on the cake we call parenting! Good for you for setting such a great example and NOT MOVING THE CAR! :o)
Wow, I dare say I'd have been a bit less Christian than you were following a comment like that!!
By the way, my hubby does auto paint touch up for a living--that type stuff will usually rub right out in about two minutes with the right compound. Seriously.
Great lesson learned for the kids. Doing the right thing makes you look better than the so-called victim in some cases!! :)
Oh, man, that is unbelievable! Thats when you want to pray that God bless her womb with triplets! LOL
I think I would have had a hard time not decking her or chewing her out at the very least.
How very sad...not the Mercedes, but how twisted our culture has become in that we buy the lie that the stuff is way more important...sadly enough, I can't sit in judgment because I've often exhibited the same twisted values...but certainly not with a Mercedes! *wink wink*
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