Not Sunday-itis After All

This past weekend, the Whirlwind-whose-name-is-Jennifer blew over onto my side of the state, bringing her usual entourage of insanity with her. All time is mañana time with her. It was great fun while it lasted.

Sunday afternoon we went to the Les Gove park in Auburn. There's a little water playground there, and with temps in the 80's it sounded like a good idea. D promptly nicknamed the place "Awesome Island" and he and S ran through the various squirting devices, thoroughly soaking themselves and their friends and having a good time, whilst Jennifer, Audra, Bonnie and I sat and nattered about Life, The Universe, and Everything. Jennifer's son kept wanting to "borrow" a water bottle--any water bottle--so he could fill it up and toss it on people ("NO, this water is for DRINKING"), and Audra's daughter kept sneaking handfuls of my Trader Joe's Pirate's Booty (think Cheetos, but without the nasty orange color). I didn't mind--the child usually eats air, not food...but after a while Audra put an end to it.

We left with plenty of time to get home and ready for evening services at church. S: "I don't feel well. My head's all stuffy and it hurts." Yeah, right, kid. (My sympathy was non-existent.) She did this last week as well, and both D. and I chalked this up to "Sunday-itis" - she didn't really want to go to church, therefore was fabricating some illness. I was kind, but firm. "Sorry, hon, but I have to go play the piano, and daddy has to teach. I can't leave you here alone." I was wondering how far she'd carry it.

We got to church...she stayed in the car. I played the piano, then went to check on her. Hmm. she DID feel warm, but she'd just spent the day running around in the hot sun...

sigh....I AM A BAD MOMMY. My poor child WAS actually sick. When we got home, I took her temperature: 101.3. AUGH, the guilt!! I was caught, thinking this was version 2.0 of last Sunday's Sundayitis. Which leads one to the truism...NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING. Why? It's all contained in the middle word, friend, all in that word.

So S went immediately to bed, and I mentally beat myself up over being such a heartless, unkind mom who jumps to false conclusions. Isn't this the soul of 1 Corinthians 13? Love believes the best about a person instead of assuming the worst? Hopes for the best in a person? Clearly there is more work that needs to be done in my life in this area.