{it could happen to anyone...}

Have you ever had one of those moments where you are surprised at your own reaction? I did recently & I am SO thankful for it! Let me begin by telling you that my husband works very long hours, nearly everyday {including meetings weekly}, & is on-call 2 weeks & weekends out of the month. Needless-to-say his time is precious to ALL of us. The A-man asks me {nearly} everyday if "Daddy has a meeting tonight" or "is it Daddy's 1/2 day"- Joey gets about 2 afternoons off a month. Usually during those 2 afternoons he goes biking {his 2nd passion in life next to watching Star Wars with the A-man}. Then he works it out to pick Prissy up for me on his way home- it's a win/win for ALL! Which brings me to the point of this story- YES I have one. The other afternoon he was pulling into the driveway {I heard the garage}. Then, I heard this horrible crash... I had often wondered what would happen if he forgot that his bike was on top his car. After all he is human & I did ask him to: pick up some milk at the market on his way, return a call from the office, & pick up the mail - {all of which were after he finished biking}. So when I heard the crash- I knew what it was immediately. I opened wide the door & saw my sweet husband still sitting in the car with his head down. I slipped on my shoes & opened up his door. "Honey" I said "that could have happened to anyone!" {and I surprised both him & myself}. He smiled at that point. I helped him get the bike down, he assessed the damage, & I swept up the pile of our once upon a time motion light.... He hugged me again for saying what I did & we never spoke of it again. NOW fast forward to last week. I was on my way to pick up Prissy from ballet & saw a tag sale.... Y'all now I have no self control. I ended up getting a HUGE bookshelf that just so happened to fit perfectly into my NEW car. I tried to be so careful, but in the end.... I scratched the bumper pretty bad. I felt that sick feeling that you get when you know you are going to get in trouble! Does that ever go away? I stewed the whole way to ballet. When I got there I borrowed a black Sharpe permanent marker to try to "lesson" the obvious disaster. To no avail I swallowed my pride & begged Prissy to keep the secret. Then I felt even worse. "Never mind Prissy" I said in what I believe to be my most pitiful voice ever. "Momma doesn't keep secrets from Daddy, I'm sorry that I asked you to." "That's okay Momma- I won't say anything anyway" she winked. Again- (Mother of the Year) now my child feels like she is in cahoots with me... So we pulled into the drive- only to find Joey home from his meeting early. Ordinarily this would thrill me- NOT this night. I quickly asked Cooner to come outside {she was visiting}. She said we could take it to the body shop tomorrow & no one would have to know. I {heart} a mother's love- it's the next best thing to Jesus! Then I decided to come clean.... "Joey" I whispered through the garage door hoping he wouldn't hear me "could you help me unload something". In what seemed like seconds, he was there. I pointed to the scratch {a very loose term to say the least}. He did what any guy does I guess & ran his finger over it... Then he said & I'll NEVER forget it- "Babe- it could have happened to anyone!" Y'all I cried right then & there! I hugged that man the biggest hug that he had ever been given. Then I smiled knowing that this life is ALL about choosing the right reaction.

p.s. My reading through the bible in a year homework included this today...

Proverbs 21:19

"It is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman."