Today the kids decided (10 minutes later than they should have) that they would ride bikes to school. I was a little nervous for Hadley, my kindergartener. I had no idea if she could make it to school much less with all of the traffic and driving around her. I sent the kids and hopped in the car to follow them. Ada was sitting in a booster seat with no shoes and I was straight out of the shower.
Sure enough, Hadley hadn't made it to the end of the street before she was walking her bike up the hill. I felt that thrumming pressure, we were going to be late. I slowly followed and soon enough she was back up riding. Then walking again. Riding....walking. Other parents were driving around me trying to get to school on time. Pretty soon, Everett had given up. He was riding on ahead and leaving her. Greyson stuck with it though. I pulled ahead and watched to see them come up behind me. I drove ahead onto the busy road and parked in the church parking lot to wait for the kids and help them lock up. Ada begged to be let out. "You don't have any shoes!" I said. "It's fine mom, you can carry me." She responded. And I wonder why I have a bad back.
I stood in the parking lot waiting. Everett was long gone into the school and the line of kids were streaming in, but no Hadley and Greyson. A mom from my ward drove by, "They are back there a ways," she said, "I think Hadley fell." I thanked her and began to trek across the parking lot.
Another mom from our ward pulled into the lot, "Your kids are back there and one of them fell. She's crying. I tried to get her to come with me but she didn't recognize me. I'm sorry!" she said. I thanked her and kept walking.
Yet another mom drove up and yelled out the car window, "Hadley and Greyson are back there, she's crying!"
"I got it." I said as I lugged my 30 lbs of toddler down the road. Another mom had joined me on the walk as she was walking home from dropping her daughter off. We chuckled and shook our heads at the ridiculousness of the situation. It was just one of those mom moments.
As we neared the turn, yet another mom was helping Hadley up while a frantic Greyson looked on. I told him to go ahead and he sped off. "She's in my son's class." she said by way of explanation. I thanked her and dusted Hadley off. We talked for a minute, she hopped on her bike and rode to school. I hiked back, Ada now walking barefoot because my back just couldn't take it anymore.
I picked up Hadley's bike, helmet, and lock and put them in my car so that she could easily go with her carpool after kindergarten and checked on Greyson in case I needed to talk to his teacher about being tardy. It was all just fine.
At carpool time I got a call from my friend who was driving, "Did you pick up Hadley?" she asked, "I can't find her." I explained that she was probably looking for her bike and they located her quickly. She made it home and all is well.
Through all of this I wanted to be annoyed (and while part of me was) a bigger part of me just felt relieved and blessed. I worry about my kids all of the time and being a parent seems so difficult. I often feel isolated and overwhelmed. Everyday I feel like I drop them off at school, send them off to friends or their activities, and just pray that they will make it there. Today was a good reminder that I am part of such a wonderful community of people. I am so grateful to know that we aren't doing this all on our own, rather there are people watching out for our family who will dive in if we need help. What a wonderful relief. The Lord is making our burden lighter, even if we don't always see it.
And as a side note, Hadley will be working on riding hills before she rides to school again!
No comments:
Post a Comment