There's always a lot of commotion after church. We talk with friends, the kids hassle us about where we're going to eat, people are swarming, etc., but yesterday there was added confusion as immediately following the church service, a lovely couple renewed their vows after twenty years of marriage. It was very heartwarming and illustrated the beauty of tried and true love. Weddings are wonderful, but the young couple has no idea what they're getting into. REAL love is being able to look your spouse in the eye with sincere appreciation and say you'd do it all over again after twenty years together.
Sigh. Beautiful.
Anyway, the daughter of the couple is a friend of Miss Innocent One so they asked her to take some pictures of the ceremony. Afterward she gave the camera back and ended up chatting with her friends, Ladies Man was in a toot about leaving because we were running later and he had to eat and meet some friends in less than an hour, Drama Queen complained about where we had chosen to eat and we were just trying to get out the door which is no small feat when we park on the opposite side of the building. There's always so many people on the way we want to talk with!
Because they don't like to go to church as early as we do, our older kids often drive separately. Miss Innocent one rides with me TO church, except yesterday she had spent the night with a friend and was not with me. Usually we're good about knowing who's leaving with who but on Father's Day, of all days . . . not so much.
We sent our high school kids ahead of us (mainly because they were driving us crazy) and as is our frequent custom, Kevin and I got in a vehicle by ourselves. About a mile or so away from church, both our phones buzzed.
"Wait a minute," I said, checking the caller ID, "Who has Miss Innocent One?"
At the same time, Kevin answered his phone.
"Yeah, we're on our way. We'll be there soon. What?! Where are you?! Oh. Sorry. We'll come get you."
Yep, we left Miss Innocent One at church. On Father's Day. Lovely.
A few years ago something like that would have been traumatizing for her, but she was a good sport about it. As I walked in to find her, she said, "Geez, Mom. I thought, what the crap? They left me?!"
Once we retrieved her I got a text bomb (TEN texts!) from Drama Queen saying, "Holy Cow! Where are you guys?!"
For years she and Ladies Man have called Miss Innocent One "Perfect Baby Angel Child," so when I told her we had to go back to church to get her, they got a huge kick out of it. Her next text said, "YOU FORGOT YOUR PRECIOUS LITTLE ONE?!?!?!?!?!?!"
I tried to pin in on her telling her we thought their sister was with them, but had to admit it was our fault in the end.
Sigh. Everything is always our fault. Bleh.
Once the excitement died down and we "collected the children," as Kevin likes to say, he gave his commentary on the matter.
"Well, that's really disappointing," he said, "I think I was in the running for Father of the Year until this."
Don't worry, babe, you're always tops in my book and if you go by Drama Queen's Facebook status, I think you're okay in the kids' eyes too. Here's what she wrote later that afternoon.
Drama Queen "quite frankly has the studliest dad in the world."
Amen, sister.
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