Vitamin Lockout

It was late. Too late, really, to be proud of. My seven-year old son Jared had been asking me all morning if I could please watch his new trick on the tree. Daddy had given him a length of webbing, and after fashioning a makeshift elevator, Jared rapidly progressed to Trapeze Training 101. His body flailed and flapped at the end of that rope like a flag in an afternoon breeze.

But now it really was afternoon, and in the hum of my busy day, I hadn’t yet taken the time to oblige him. “I’ll be there in just a minute,” I’d murmured more than once. But this time, I really meant it. I set down my knife, left the tomato half-sliced, and sauntered out the front door.

“Here I come,” I announced feebly.

“All right!” Jared hollered as he sped past me toward ‘his tree. My arrival garnered far more enthusiasm from him than I inwardly felt: I’d been at the grindstone all day, and my energy reserves were shot.

Jared’s, however, couldn’t have been better. He performed a stellar Ropes routine on his webbing, beaming at my coveted attention. When it was all over, I gave him a round of applause and a short wave, then gathered my two younger children and headed back toward the house and my work.

But this was not to be. Ethan, my five-year-old, had dutifully closed the door behind him.
Sorry, Mom, his blue eyes seemed to say as I struggled with the unyielding doorknob. I guess you taught me too well.

We tried the back door. We checked the windows. And soon, it was official: Unless I wanted to walk barefoot to the nearest neighbor’s house, we’d be stuck outside until my husband came home.

I could have screamed – but I just did not have the energy.

Instead, I sat down on the back porch – gathered my four-year old daughter into my lap – and gave her a squeeze. I lay on the grass and watched the boys on the swing. I stared at the sky – and I felt my blood pressure go down. Later – much later – when my husband finally arrived home – he found a much-improved wife from the one who stepped out the door a while earlier. The kids, too, sensed the difference, and though our dinner had to wait due to unexpected delays … no one really seemed to mind.

Could I have prevented this hour-long delay? Perhaps. But sometimes ,I think getting locked out of my ‘normal’ life is a blessing. Maybe I could have gotten more done that day – but who would have suffered in the process? Maybe I’ll schedule in a few more ‘accidents’ like this: They could be good for my health!