Lesson Learned

William will tell you he had a rough day. Nothing seemed to be going his way: it was pouring down rain, his umbrella was half broken, and something I never noticed before, being short causes you to get a lot more wet on more of your body in the rain than a taller person. He was irritated by the constant piano playing in the house and no one would play with him. I was taking him to Walmart hoping to break the bad mood and lack of activity he seemed to be experiencing on this rainy day.

We perused the toy aisle for some time, and I thought I was very patient. He had allowance money he wanted to spend, but he likes not to spend all of it (he likes to still have a little cash for emergencies) and could not find the perfectly priced toy or even really one he liked. "I know what you're going to say," he said in a voice sounding a good deal like Eeyore. "If you can't find something you like, you should wait." Pleased he was listening, I agreed and suggested we move on to get milk. I had to get back home to make dinner.

He began to drag his whole body hunched over. When that didn't work, he tried some more violent body movements to let the whole of Walmart that he was unhappy. Now, we had a conversation which ended in steam coming out of my ears and my eyes shooting out green sparks. In other words, after all I tried to do for him that day, I'd had it with his attitude.

Finally, he apologized in that "I'm sorrrrrrry" that means he's not really but would I please just shut up about it? Because it wasn't sincere, I replied that I accepted the apology, but he would have to follow up with a changed behavior, in other words "show me" that he was sorry.

That's when my words were vomited back on me, words spoken earlier that morning as the leader of the Children's Liturgy. "But MOM! Didn't you say in Church today blessed are those that believe without seeing? Didn't you mean what you said?" What can one say to that?