How to survive while your mother is away
How does one survive while one's dear mother is away? I've had much experience at surviving without my darling mother, not because she is negletful but because as a pastor's wife she does a lot of visiting. At first, like all rookies, I make silly mistakes, thinking that I could handle mom leaving all by myself, failing to provide myself with shelter, and not keeping a stash of bribery tools around. I did, however, live through my mistakes, and here I am to tell about it! I claim no great knowledge, I have never been to college, I haven't even finished high school, but the topic on which I write needs no great knowledge, just a little common sense and a good dose of humor.
A few months ago my mother went to an International Student Convention with my father, leaving my younger siblings and I with a babysitter. My mother had been gone for ten days and was not scheduled to return for another week. How was I going to survive another seven days without her? My little sister Glory was having a bad say, well week really. After throwing her cereal on the floor, refusing to do any kind of school owrd, and staying in her PJ's most of the day, it was finally time fir a nap. Thinking that a nap was just what glory needed, I set off to find her and put her down for a good nap. "Glory," I called in a sweet voice, "Do you want to hear a story?" That got her coming quick, she loves hearing stories. Glory suddenly stopped walking toward me and started running in the opposite diresction. "Oh, flapper-snapps," I cried, for I realized that she had caught me in what I was trying to do. I started running after her and caught her in the living room. Diving for her feet, I executed an excellent dive-and-trip maneuver. While Glory was still recovering from the shock, I sat on her and pinned her to the floor. After retrieving the rope I always carry in my pocket, I tied her hands and feet. Now as you can imagine, Glory was not very happy about this, no matter, I carried her kicking and screaming to her room and plopped her on the nearest bed. I sang her a song, told her a story, covered her with a blanket, and as she slowly went to sleep, softly left the room. Which brings me to my first point, keeping a good head on your shoulders is the first rule of survival. If I had not kept my wits about me, trying to put Glory down for a nap could have had a very different, disastrous end. A wise person once taught me that what you can't accomplish by simply talking to kids, you can accomplish with gummy worms. When one is left in the car with seven wild children while your mother and father are visiting someone in a hospital can be a bad situation. But when one has gummy worms the children suddenly listen to everything you say, turning into perfect angels in seconds. My personal favorite survival tip, create a hideaway, a place only you know about. A sound-proofed storm shelter under your bed with cameras around the outside, providing you with the knowledge of who is approaching, is a great way to get away. If, however, a high-teck storm shelter is not available, a small tree house will do. Keeping food in your shelter is an excellent way to stay nourished during your long stays. If you are anything like me, you are most likely wondering, what are the most important things to do when my mother leaves? Well here they are, the two most important things to know for when your mother goes on a long trip. Read your Bible, this will aid you in staying close to God. Also, surround youself with family and friends who will help you through this difficult time. We all would like to think that we can handle anything and everything by ourselves, but we can't. Trusting God to take you safely through the hard times and surrounding yourself with people you love, are two things imperative to surviving the hard times ahead.
posted by Ruthie @ 7:04 PM
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