Thursday, January 29, 2009

Is This The Reason I Have Homeschooled?!

Abram was standing inside the picture window of his elementary school with his backpack and jacket in his hand.....waiting....and worrying; wondering if anyone was coming for him. When he saw Mary's vehicle pull up in the turn around outside the main door you could see the stress drain from his little face as he ran outside to greet me. I had jumped out of the vehicle quickly to apologize and embrace him. When he ran to me and stopped in my arms he cried quietly. The unexpected silent outburst broke my heart and I shed a tear too. I couldn't apologize enough. I wanted to say something magical to make that hour go away, but instead I found myself saying the same thing over and over, "I'm sorry." He was sweet about it and quickly felt the need to put my mind at ease by reassuring me that it was okay, but I knew it really wasn't.

So how did this moment transpire? How did we happen to end the day in this unforgettable way? Well it was easy, really. It took no thought at all....yes, pun intended.

Maybe there was a quiet voice whispering in Abram's ear from the get-go that morning. I don't know how it worked for him, but I know how those sorts of days begin for me. You see the bus didn't show up that morning. River had drove him down the driveway to meet it, only to discover that there was no bus service after all. There was no logical reason for the bus absence, but River proceeded to run Abram on in to school that morning.

About 11:15am I got a call from the school. That is never a good feeling; seeing the school's name and number on my caller id. I switched over to receive it, and recognized the small voice on the other end. It was Abram and he was asking for lunch money, lunch money for the lunch that was about to take place in ten minutes. He said he told River that he didn't have any money for lunch, but somehow River forgot to share that tidbit of info with me before that moment. So, we sent River to the school in an all-fire hurry to give him money to eat, thankfully he was able to enjoy it with the rest of his classmates. However, after River got home he had explained how that Abram hadn't expressed the fact that he needed money for hot lunch UNTIL they were at the school, and River had zero money to give him. (You can imagine the worry and concern that must have crossed little Abram's mind as he shut the suburban door and wandered in to school.) That is when I had learned that the bus hadn't came to pick up Abram that morning. It was important information, that later would be the undoing of the rest of Abram's day.

Fast forward to Mary coming over to go on our infamous two mile walk, the walk that after we finish we polish off with a quick trip to Starbucks to reward ourselves (the time frame being 15-20 minutes after school let out). Yes, it may be a bit counterproductive, but life is short....lol. After getting our toasty drinks we swung by the post office in our little town (approximately 45 minutes after school let out). While she ran in I saw all the children playing on the playground behind the post office at Abram's elementary school. I thought it was strange that there were still kids there, but didn't give it much of a thought beyond that (maybe it should have occurred to me that no one picked him up from school, where was that mother/son mental telepathy when you need it?). From there we headed all the way back to my house. We chatted about this, and wagged our tongues about that, without a motherly care in the world. We pulled into my driveway, and I slowly dragged myself out of the car and went inside my house to greet my boys (approximately 50 minutes after school let out). As soon as I entered the door Levi had a "got" look on his face, and asked us where Abram was. Extremely worried I responded with, "What do you mean?" He said the school called many moons ago and said that no one had picked him up. This is when the light dawned and Mary and I hightailed it back to where we were fifteen minutes prior. Which brings me back to the beginning of this story.

I was sad about that moment. I wish I could have taken it back, but life is full of those (I say with disappointment). However, life is about learning that things don't always run smoothly. Sometimes people make mistakes and you have to stand on your own two feet (for exactly an hour), but it is always good when someone you love comes to rescue you, even if you are the very reason they have to be rescued......*big heaving sigh*

8 comments:

Sis. Leah said...

My heart breaks for you. I pray it is something you never have to go through again. And it helps to know that we have a father above that will take care of our children when we can't. *Hug*

JoAnn said...

Oh My. Poor little fella. I usually get a phone call on my cell from the school when I am halfway to Grand Junction & can't get back to the school to take care of whatever they need. It is then we resort to calling the one who can do anything...GRANDMA!

Sis Stubby said...

Poor little guy.Poor mommie.I hate when things like that happen.

Mrs.Martin said...

Poor little Abram... Us mom's can't always know everything. Don't worry.

meNmykids said...

Oh, that is so rough. For everyone. Little boys are vulnerable, and mommas are too. What a heartache all around. Glad you could rescue and make it all better. Life, sigh.

Lori said...

Poor little guy! I hope that the school workers were comforting to him!!! I know that dismissal can be hectic and then everyone is ready to go home, so I hope someone gave him some encouragement that it would all work out! How were you supposed to know the bus wouldn't run AGAIN? One day, you will both look back and laugh on it and it will be a story the family tells over and over...:-)

Jules said...

Awww, poor guy :( I know how horrible that must have felt for you. When we lived in Grand Junction, they dismissed school an hour early every Wednesday, and several Wednesdays, I would get a "reminder" call that school was out for the day and that I needed to come get my kids from the office. That was just flat out irritating, that they dismissed early every Wed, it only caused a lot of confusion. But anyway, I'm sure that it will be a distant memory later down the road.

Sabriena said...

Awwww. I can imagine how guilty you're feeling. How do these things happen? Don't worry, nobody thinks you're a bad mom ('cause we all know!!! LOL. Just kidding, you're a great mom).

I voted on putting a real picture, because if you are possibly going to be going to the trouble of changing it, I think it would be neat to have a family picture of all your boys up there and the "I work from son up to son down" header. But I was actually tied between my choice, and one of the other votes (I don't remember which one, though!)