Bramell, Party of Five: Mommy Confession Time

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Mommy Confession Time

I'm just gonna go ahead and get this out there.  I've committed Parenting Sin #1.  Yes, The Daddy of Them All.  I let my children get in a vehicle with strangers.  There, it's out.  I am not the Mother of the Year.
 
Thank goodness the story has a good ending, but I still keep thinking about that day.  It was the day that Keisha and I were driving to Little Rock for the Arkansas Women Bloggers conference.  We were taking my girls to hand off to my mom in Conway.  Along about Morrilton, out of nowhere, the ole minivan started acting up and smoking from under the hood.  Since it was between exits, I just pulled off the side of the interstate as far as I could go.  I turned off the engine and Keisha and I, being experts in car repair, sat and discussed what might be wrong with the van.  Before KP had that AAA card out of her wallet, the smoke and stink got worse. The girls were crying, so we took them out of the van and into the ditch (safer than a van on fire, right?)  Very quickly, we noticed a blue truck had pulled over and was backing down the side of the interstate to us.  This is when you have about three seconds to decide whether to be thankful someone is stopping to help or scared that someone is about to chop you up into a million pieces.

To our relief, a very normal looking man hopped out of the truck and came toward us.  As the afternoon traffic zoomed past us at 70mph, I decided it would be safer to put my kids into the man's truck with his wife.  My shy little girls who won't talk to anyone!  I just knew I'd caused some permanent scars there.  But, heck no.  THERE WAS A PUPPY!  Now, it's all "Mom who?" while the nice man is looking at my van.  He said it would be OK for me to drive the van on to the next exit where there was a gas station and safer for him to work on it.  So, I let my kids ride in his truck--with strangers---while they followed me.  I'm not completely crazy, though.  I made Keisha ride with them, too! I wasn't letting my babies go alone.

Long story short, the couple lives in a small town about 15 miles from where I grew up.  They were traveling home from a funeral and he was wearing dress clothes; he even ruined his shirt checking the fluids in my van.  Mom was able to drive on to Morrilton and  tear the girls away from the puppy get the girls.  He found the problem with my van and Keisha and I soon hit the road again.  It was a crazy fluke involving a loose dipstick that made me lose all the transmission fluid.  No repairs needed, whew.
 
Ms. Fix-It Keisha doing her thing.
 
 
This incident got me thinking about another time I needed a stranger's help, when the twins were babies.  We were at Silver Dollar City; the babies needed a diaper change and the double stroller wouldn't fit in the bathroom door!  So, I took Girl Twin back for Lee to hold and trekked back to the bathroom with Boy Twin.  After I got him changed, I realized that I needed to use it as well.  There was a normal-enough looking woman washing at the sink. I totally asked her if she would hold Boy Twin so I could pee.  I never even thought twice about it! She was thrilled to hold a baby and I was thrilled to empty my bladder. 
 
Am I just too trusting of people?  Do you think I'm crazy? I think having more kids than hands has just forced me to ask for help when I have to. If you are reading this, I have probably asked YOU for help at some point.

1 comment:

  1. When I was in high school I borrowed someone's car for the day and it was a stick-shift. I don't actually know how to drive one of those and got myself stuck right in the middle of the busiest intersection in town. A nice lady in a VERY EXPENSIVE car rescued me and let me drive her car back to my house while she drove my friend's car. That woman was crazy!!

    But anywho, I've often wondered what I would do if I was in a situation where I really had to let a stranger help me with my kids. I'm not a very trusting person so I'm sure I would just freak out!

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