Sometimes I Write

I’ve calmed down a bit since lastnight, but I still feel just as passionately as I did then about what I said. I was surprised to travel to my friend Larry’s blog and read what he had to say about all of this. I really respect this man, but I had to disagree with some of what he said.

I wanted to have a good day with my family today so I didn’t even turn on the TV. Little did I know the adventure I was in for…

Our friends Mark and Katrina Willis are here in Denver for the House2House conference, so we got to meet them for lunch downtown. We rode the Free Ride bus that travels up and down the 16th Street Mall to meet them. Benny and I each had a stroller, so when we got to our stop we were struggling to get off the bus when the bus driver closed the doors and started to pull away. I had told Max that this was our stop, so he had hopped off the bus already to stay out of my way. As soon as the doors started closing I started yelling “STOP!!!” but the driver either didn’t hear me or was ignoring me. Benny didn’t know Max had already gotten off and was being left behind, so he was trying to get me to calm down and telling me that we’d just get off at the next stop. He must have seen the panic in my eyes as I screamed that Max was off the bus because he transformed into scary authority mode! He yelled at the driver loud enough that everyone on the bus (which was packed) went silent, and people on the streets stopped to watch. ( I knew it would be o.k. when he took over the yelling – he’s louder and scarier than I am. lol) We got about a half a block away before the driver stopped. My heart was pounding through my chest. Mark and Katrina were standing there when we jumped off the bus, and I just shoved Pete’s stroller at them and ran for Max. Thankfully, one of the couples that had been on the bus with us saw the whole thing and had gotten off the bus when Max did. The lady was holding his hand and was headed straight for me. I have never been so thankful for the kindness of a stranger!!! In today’s world, even that freaked me out a bit. As a mother, I was fearing the worst. Some wacko could have grabbed him and I wouldn’t have been able to do a thing because I was stuck on the bus! I had to physically calm myself down in less than 15 seconds because I didn’t want to scare Max to death. Did I mention that we were meeting Katrina for the first time? My husband is AWESOME! He makes me feel protected and safe. His loud voice was so comforting to me, though it probably scared the bus driver.

It took me about 15 minutes to be completely calm again, and now as I’m retelling the story I’m feeling a bit shaky. I am not one of those moms that overreacts to everything, but let me tell you – NOBODY messes with my kids!!! So, I guess I’m still calming down.