I Guess if THAT'S Your Excuse . . .

Yesterday was another one of "those days". You know - kids stripping naked and jumping on your bed, kids throwing food and plates at meals, kids bursting into tears when you put their shoes on to go play outside, and kids screaming at each other at the top of their lungs because they all want to sit on your lap at the same time. Throw in a dog peeing on your carpet and that pretty much sums up my day.

I knew Billy was going to be a little late coming home because he had an important meeting after school, plus he had a friend who needed cheering up and after the meeting they were going to Chili's to have a drink. No big deal. Of course I estimated in my mind how long all of this should take, and 15 minutes after I figured they should be finished and I didn't get a phone call from Billy telling me he was on his way home, I started to get irritated. I'm not proud I reacted this way, but hey, did I also mention that I had the kids all by myself this weekend while he was away on a retreat?? Anyway, when he finally did call I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was not coming home right away. And of course my irritation instantly ratcheted up a few more notches. Billy knew this would happen, so the next words out of his mouth were, "We found a baby." My brain was waiting for him to finish the sentence - a baby what? Dog? Squirrel? Possum? Opossum?

But no, it really was a human baby. Billy and his friend found a little girl wandering around in the parking lot by the dumpsters behind a Long John Silver's. She was about 15 months old, scraped up, and dirty. They took her inside the restaurant to see if they could find her parents and the workers told them she lives nearby and this was the third or fourth time she had wandered away. They gave her water and some ice cream while waiting for the police. The little girl's father showed up and was very remorseful about what happened. Billy and his friend gave statements to the police, who then escorted the little girl and her father home.

Needless to say, after hearing what happened I immediately felt ashamed of myself for the little pity party I had been throwing because I thought my day was so awful. My heart aches for this little girl and I hope this is a wake-up call to her parents to be more vigilant. I know kids can escape - Joe can unlock and open our sliding back door - but from this little girl's appearance and the fact that she had wandered away several times before, I fear she is not growing up in a safe and protected environment. I pray that things will get better for her.