A Moment's Peace...

As every busy mother knows it can be difficult to steal a few quiet moments of your own. Recently my sisters and I decided to make spa appointments. The room was quiet except for the music playing softly in the background. Tension was slowly leaving my body. All was right in the world. Until...

First I heard the muffled sounds of my oldest daughter's ringtone. Darn it! I forgot to silence my phone. OK no big deal. I'll just call her back when we are done. No sooner had I resolved that issue when I heard her ringtone again. Clearly I should have informed her I would be unavailable for an hour. Trying to regain my peace, my cell phone rang AGAIN. This time it was an unknown caller. Why is it that when you don't want to talk everyone wants to talk to you? Shortly after my third interruption, my daughter calls again. OK what could possibly be so important that she couldn't wait thirty more minutes? Really! Can't a mom have some peace?

My time evaporated and I was forced to return to the real world. I turned to my sister and joked that Lauryn had called me three times during our facial so she must really miss me. I check my voice mail. "Mom" Lauryn began, "it's a good thing the house is not on fire and I didn't need you right away." Her voice exasperated. I return her phone calls and she begins to tell her tale.

While I was away, I informed her that she was in charge of cleaning the inside of the house. So, taking her responsibility seriously, she decided to put the dog on the deck and vacuum the house. Forgetting that she set the house alarm while I was gone, she set it off when she opened the door to let the dog out. Have you ever heard those house alarms? The ear-piercing obnoxious sound they make? Frantically she ran over to the keypad and turned the alarm off but not before setting off the protocol of phone calls the alarm company would make to ensure things were fine. Remember that unknown call I received during my appointment? Yes, that was the alarm company wanting to know if things were OK? They also called Lauryn but her phone went straight to voicemail leaving the alarm company to think the alarm truly went off. Of course the police came to the house to check it out.

Ironically a friend had just sent me an email on a homeschooling high schoolers lecture she had attended. One of the points was to allow your children to experience challenging situations to further develop their strengths. See I had it planned all along. LOL