Eavesdropping

The stomping of eight little feet was followed by a sudden crash and then an ominous silence. Jamie and I listened (snickering, I’ll admit), waiting for penitent children to find us and confess. As we waited, we were given an interesting glimpse into the personalities of our fascinating and remarkably diverse little people.

Drew, ready to take responsibility, commandeered his troops with the charge, “C’mon, guys, we need to go tell Mom and Dad.” Bethie, the minimizer, downplayed the catastrophe: “Well, at least we know it can be fixed . . . .” (Hmm. It must have been Avery’s picture -- it’s happened before.) And then there was Aidan, who came up with the brilliant, panic-laden suggestion, “No -- we've got to HIDE it!!!” (Oh, my son . . . .) Finally, Miss Avery Kate (I can just see her with hands on hips) prepared the crew with the dreaded reality, “Mom’s gonna be ANGRY.”

Well, it was the picture, it was repaired, and it was confessed (well, actually “tattled” is the more appropriate verb). Mom was not so angry after all, but instead painfully aware that a little bit of extra training might need to happen in the area of taking responsibility for our actions!