Our three grand daughters from Wyoming stayed with us during their Spring break. It was the first time they had stayed in Oklahoma without their parents and it was a very big deal. The Oklahoma grand children were out-of-control excited to have their cousins available every day for one week. We decided to go to the zoo on one of the days of their visit and naturally made arrangements to pick up the Oklahoma 7-year-old grand daughter, Hope, to ride with us. When we got to her house I ask the Anna to run into the house and get Hope so we could hurry off. Well, 5-year-old, Katie, was heart broken. She wanted to go into Hope's house too. But, this car seat for every person under 50 pounds is a huge challenge for grandma. It takes what seems like FOREVER for me to get every one locked securely in their spot, So I told Katie to stay in her seat and wait. I tried to assure her that it would only take a minute and that her older sister could get in and out of her booster by herself and it was just so much easier for yaya. But my plea for understanding did nothing to quell her tears. Soon the car was filled with waves of sobbing disappointment. After the two seven year-olds got in the car and I had began driving to our destination, the crying transitioned into short gasps of reflex breathing. I used this quiet moment to talk about the disappointing event. I asked my car load of youngsters what they do when they don't get what they want? There was no response from the seats behind me. I gave them some time and then I asked more directly. "Hope," I said. "What do you do when you don't get what you want?" She took surprisingly little time to respond and said, "Be grateful. I be grateful for what I have." This time the silence was mine. How could such a young soul know an age-old truth? So since that car ride I have tried to implement this question and response into my days.
Today, I worked on the nursery again and the plan I had for the wall above each crib wasn't working. I was getting terribly frustrated. I later realized that I had left my SD card in my lap top and not in the camera I had brought to snap some shots. "Oh I really wanted to take pictures." I was REALLY disappointed. Then the question sounded in my head. "What do you do when you don't get what you want?" I looked around the small room and realized that I had been blessed to spend two days with my adorable grand son and his loving mother. I been covered in his infectious laughter and complimented at every turn by my daughter-in-law. I drew in a new breath and a new idea came into my brain. I will use it on the wall tomorrow and take some pictures of the finished product for you all to view.
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