WHAT SHE BROUGHT WITH HER!

HER DOG? No, my daughter arrived here in Metairie shortly before noon yesterday WITHOUT her golden retriever. She usually brings him with her and we have never told her she could not or that we did not want her to. As a matter of fact, he is kind of like one of the family and we love him and like to spend time with him too. This time, however, I was secretly hoping she would not bring him, only because the weather was terrible and because I knew we were going to be busy as we tried to cram a lot into two short days.

Did she bring A GIFT? Not exactly.

In less than thirty minutes after she stepped into the house, we both took off to start our shopping frenzy. Our first stop was Marshalls. After that we combed TJ Maxx. As we left this particular shopping center to drive to another one, she began to complain about being extremely tired. We were close enough to the house that I told her we could go back so she could take a nap and rest for a while. She told me that she was also feeling a little queasy and maybe if she got something to eat she would feel better. We went to Zea’s Restaurant where she ordered an appetizer and a drink and I ordered dessert and coffee. She ate almost all of her food and we had the rest boxed to take back to her dad. We made it home just in the nick of time! She became very, very ill.

That‘s right. All the way from Hattiesburg, MS she brought with her a STOMACH VIRUS that has been running rampant in our little neck of the woods.

The weather was rainy and gloomy but with parking garages, umbrellas, and indoor malls who cared? This was not going to stop us. But, stop we did! Right in our own tracks! No more shoes to try on, purses to drool over, or bargains to look for. The only thing left in our day was for me to watch the Saints game on tv with my husband and Pepto Bismol and vomiting for her!

I know we are not suppose to question why things like this happen, although it doesn’t stop me from trying to speculate. So here is my speculation:

My daughter and I are alike in so many ways: in personality and in appearance. But, in as many ways that we are alike, we are so very different. One being the way we deal with pain and sickness. Not that I am superwoman, but she does not do good when she is sick. Period. On a pain tolerance scale of 0 to 10, she MAY be at 1. This still does not give me justification for my lack of patience with her in the past during some of the times she got sick. I even told her one time that after she got married and got pregnant to call me after she had the baby and not before. OUCH! Huge, huge mistake on my part!!

In earlier entries, I confessed about mistakes I had made when it came to my daughter’s and my relationship. There are things I wish I could go back and do differently. (I feel pretty safe in saying that this is probably the way many parents feel.) And this weekend gave me the opportunity to sort of do that.  I sat with her, waited on her, cleaned up after her, showing her how much I loved her all the while she groaned and complained. Did I mention that she groaned and complained? Yes, I am going to accept that this weekend was not meant to be about shopping and eating together as I had planned, but about an opportunity for me to get to do something over.

So, what did she bring with her? She will probably never know what she brought that helped to soothe this mother’s soul!

Beth Moore had the following verse posted on her blog. I read it last night and it could not have spoken any louder or clearer to me. Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." John 13:7

Everything happens for a reason!