The Perfect Child?

I came home today from a wonderful women's retreat weekend at Aldersgate where I enjoyed the beautifully landscaped grounds in the sunshine, the company of caring, funny women of all ages, inspiring testimonies of God's faithfulness, fabulous meals that I didn't have to prepare or clean up, and an outstanding speaker who shared how God has worked through the difficulties in her life to teach her to live according to eternity thinking. So here I am, inspired to look beyond the here and now and live for eternity. Amazing how last week's hike really fit that theme, as I didn't see the beauty til I was able to look past the ugly black burnt trees to see the mountains beyond.

I was the M.C. at this event, and I shared a few of the humorous family stories that sometimes illustrated the points that the speakers made. (As well as some that perhaps didn't.) It's possible that during one of these stories I may have been guilty of referring to Nick as "our perfect child."

But this afternoon after I got home, everything Nick did was extremely irritating to me. Perhaps the sleep deprivation of the weekend contributed to that. I had to make many urgent suggestions regarding his driving on the way to and from church. We bought laundry detergent after church because they ran out and no one was able to replace it in my absence. He started his laundry after we got home, and commented how the new detergent really smelled like bleach. I sprang up from the table and leaped over to the washer. It not only smelled like bleach, it WAS bleach. The new bottle of liquid detergent, white in color just like the bottle of bleach, was still on the kitchen counter. A week's worth of new school clothes, including the new sweatshirt, were in the washer. It is amazing how many of them were splattered with bleach. I think only the three items on the very bottom of the washer were spared. Thankfully, his red Search and Rescue shirt was one ot the items left unmarred. I am appalled. Does anyone know, if you dye clothes with bleach spots, will it take the color evenly? I have never dyed anything. (At least not anything that doesn't grown on my head.) It sounds like a lot of trouble. The sweatshirt is both gray and black. I might try to mark the black with a Sharpie and see if that helps. I might go out and buy Sharpies of every color tomorrow and see if it helps! Nick does not seem too terribly disturbed by it. He even thinks the jeans and some of the shirts look cool. I have informed him I will not be buying him new clothes to replace these. I am even reasonably sure that my voice was not excessively loud or high when I made that declaration.

Our weekend speaker, who deals with some health issues, told us that often when people say, "How are you?" her reply is, "I feel crappy, but I'm still happy." (She first asked permission to use the potty language!) So when I look at Nick as he wears these pathetic looking clothes, I will think, "You look crappy, but I still feel happy!" Because this is not an event that will affect his eternal destiny. This too will pass!


But the sweatshirt may have to go away.