pat and i aren't fighting anymore. he loves me "everything thing about me...even when i'm psycho" :-)
the kids forgave me.
and, in a rare moment of calm this evening, i was thinking about the guy in the van and wondering about him...maybe he really thought it was abandoned and he was so excited to bring a bike home for his little girl...kinda makes me want to go give it back to him.
i was obviously emotional this afternoon.
i tried to redeem the day by going for a walk with the kids to a "new" destination that i've seen on my runs.
no longer than 1 minute after this first picture, rebekah's handlebars on her bike fall off.
she can't ride it.
can hardly even walk it because it's so awkward.
this isn't the first time it's happened.
i'm pushing a double stroller with 2 kids in it.
i can't push it.
i know i chose to do this...but...
i was ticked.
i tried to fix it.
no luck.
i toss it off the side of the road in the snow and we'll just get it once we get back home and get in the car.
we keep going on our walk...
end up at this abandoned barn.
the kids thought it was cool.
my heart lightened up for the 5 minutes we were there.
we turn around to head home.
when we get to where rebekah's bike was...it's GONE.
um...i was TICKED!
as i thought about it, i realized i had just seen a white van stopped at about that spot as we were walking up.
so, we book it home.
joshua is crying because he just doesn't handle stress well.
i'm almost crying...the only reason i'm not is because i'm SO mad.
we get home.
hop in the car.
and i take off to FIND.THAT.VAN.
i found it.
the neighborhood we had been walking near has a few houses still under construction.
so i knew it would likely be at one of them.
and i had seen the side of it, so i knew what it looked like.
as i saw it, i realized i could be being really stupid.
these people might shoot me in the head if i accuse them of something.
{i'm not exaggerating...we've got some crazies around here}
so, i call pat.
i say, "i have a situation. rebekah's bike got stolen. i found the van. i'm walking up to ask them about it. i just want you on the phone with me in case they shoot me in the head."
he starts asking questions.
but i can't answer because now "the guys" are walking out of the house and looking at me.
i walk up.
"do you have a pink bike?"
the one guy looks at the other guy as if i'm speaking a foreign language...which i was...they clearly spoke spanish.
the other guy says, "oh yea! i saw it and was going to take it to the trash."
as if he's mr. good citizen and clearing the litter from the sides of the road.
right.
i say, "could you please put it in the back of my car?"
thank you.
so, we have rebekah's bike back.
she can't ride it.
but we have it.
i call pat back to explain the story.
i'm ranting and raving and somehow get HIM ticked at ME.
so we're in a fight.
i need a good cry.
but i have another hour and dinner to get through.
the end.
fun day, huh?? :-)
19 comments:
OH.MY.GOSH.
What a day!
Ok, forgive me, but I totally cracked up at the part when you chucked the bike off the side of the road. Totally something I would have done out of frustration.
And I love that you went out on a mission to find the bike - and you DID! I'm pretty sure your kids will be bragging about how rockstar their mom is for months to come! :)
And, um, I'm really glad you didn't get shot in the head. REALLY glad.
Love you. Tomorrow is a new day :)
oh my word courtney - i can't believe that you went off to go get the bad guys!!! yeah, i'm so sure he was cleaning up the side of the road. give me a break. i bet he felt like a loser. you are AMAZING! (and by the way - what's with the handlebars falling off? that's bizarre). Well, it's another blog story that you'll look back on NEXT year when you print your book out and laugh. I think you're amazing!!!
glad you got the back bike. glad you are safe. i'm guessing pat was just worried. deep breath. :)
Sorry friend. Hang in there. It's almost bedtime. :)
ihavemainlywordsishouldn'ttype.
shalom.
so sorry.
grace and peace.
and the empathy of words i won't type.
oh my gosh!!! i was on the edge of my seat with this story. i would totally have chucked the bike to the side like you did, but you are so brave to go look for it. tomorrow is a new day. His mercies are new every morning..thank God! Love you
you crack me up and I just love how real you are. Love it. glad you are all okay and after the handle bars falling off all the time, I think I would have just let them have it...but it was the principle more than anything I am sure... Glad you are safe and everything is okay!
Are you crazy!! I am glad you got the bike back but seriously don't ever do that again. Next time call someone to come get you and the kids and the bike. I am glad you are safe and things all turned out for the best. I hope you had a better evening and that you have had your fill of adventure for the week.
once again, you are truly my kindred spirit ;-)
my heart was racing as I was feeling the exact emotions through that whole story (even the update ;-)
Sounds like one for the books. I've been following your blog as we're adopting from Rwanda, too (just finished home study). I hope they process your approval more quickly given you're just waiting for an addendum!
On another note, I just wanted to gently ask why it was necessary to mention that the men you confronted "spoke spanish." Maybe it was just a detail you wanted to add, but I just wanted to ask the question: Do your words perpetuate a racial stereotype? Maybe not, but it made me cringe a little bit. Around here, when someone leaves something by the curb, it's free for the taking. And maybe he WAS trying to clean up the neighborhood. What reason do you have to not believe him?
Please know that I've been blessed by your posts and how you document your family life in full color. It's very real and refreshing. Blessings!
Kimberly:
Wow, I cringed a little when I read your comment. I have know Courtney for years and can say with absolute assurance that she in no way was perputuating a sterotype, she was just tellng what happened. Since the men spoke spanish it was a relevant part of the story, just like it would have been if he spoke russian or french. And she mentioned later that she wished she had let him keep the bike. I am guessing she was just caught up in the stress of the moment, probably not wanting to spend the money on a new bike when they are saving all of theirs up for the children they are adopting.
Yeah, no way Courtney perpetuates any kind of racial stereotype -- I gotta back her up on that one.
And girl, I would have done the exact same thing (which probably explains why my parents roll their eyes at me periodically!) Good job.
glad you're feeling better.
that kind of day is so discouraging.
if it helps, the culture in our neighborhood is that when you're finished with a bike-sled-bathtub, whatever, you put it on the side of the road. then, it's up for grabs. we actually have people whose job it is to collect things with metal, sell them to the junk yards, and then live on that money. maybe it was like that?
still stinks. so much hurt expended over wanting to redeem a tough day. my props to you for that. you work so hard...
oh and my take, on knowing you for 14 years now (or something), is that they literally spoke spanish, which creates a language barrier. as would french, or whatever. so, you were nervous to communicate. and you were in the context of thinking it was stolen, so that's why you were afraid. you were nervous to communicate with people who you thought had stolen something from you.
i work in reconciliation & justice. i abhor destructive racial comments. my flags go up FAST when i hear-see-read them. and that never crossed my mind until i just saw it talked about in comments.
i read it as storytelling.
and honestly, as someone who speaks spanish fluently as a second language, and has a love and respect for those from hispanic culture, when you said that they spoke spanish, my natural inclination was to think about the work ethic connected to that particular culture- which is one that i have a huge admiration for. that's totally random, but that's where my mind went. it's a generalization, and those can be dangerous, but a very positive one.
when i think of you, courtney, i think of a woman who has her arms wide open and working for the opportunity of all humankind. period. i hope you weren't too offended. you would NEVER mean it that way, and i know it.
the danger of being honest in a community of people who don't know us is that well, people don't know us. so sometimes we lose context for our statements. i imagine that's what happened here. you were telling us your emotions and how you were working through the day. i read it as, "she is having a tough, tough day." she felt stolen from, wished for healthy communication, and was frustrated that would be challenged by any language barrier.
it is dangerous when we start to judge each other without full context. i don't know if that makes sense.
but ilovewhoyouare, and how you share yourself with the world. please keep doing it.
shalom, friends.
grace.
oh and my take, on knowing you for 14 years now (or something), is that they literally spoke spanish, which creates a language barrier. as would french, or whatever. so, you were nervous to communicate. and you were in the context of thinking it was stolen, so that's why you were afraid. you were nervous to communicate with people who you thought had stolen something from you.
i work in reconciliation & justice. i abhor destructive racial comments. my flags go up FAST when i hear-see-read them. and that never crossed my mind until i just saw it talked about in comments.
i read it as storytelling.
and honestly, as someone who speaks spanish fluently as a second language, and has a love and respect for those from hispanic culture, when you said that they spoke spanish, my natural inclination was to think about the work ethic connected to that particular culture- which is one that i have a huge admiration for. that's totally random, but that's where my mind went. it's a generalization, and those can be dangerous, but a very positive one.
when i think of you, courtney, i think of a woman who has her arms wide open and working for the opportunity of all humankind. period. i hope you weren't too offended. you would NEVER mean it that way, and i know it.
the danger of being honest in a community of people who don't know us is that well, people don't know us. so sometimes we lose context for our statements. i imagine that's what happened here. you were telling us your emotions and how you were working through the day. i read it as, "she is having a tough, tough day." she felt stolen from, wished for healthy communication, and was frustrated that would be challenged by any language barrier.
it is dangerous when we start to judge each other without full context. i don't know if that makes sense.
but ilovewhoyouare, and how you share yourself with the world. please keep doing it.
shalom, friends.
grace.
Courtney, I thank your friends for helping me to see where I was likely too quick to judge -- I've been following your blog and you inspire me and I like what I see there, but I don't KNOW you know you. I should have just let it go. (But really, I'm glad to have more context about you from what I can only tell are some pretty awesome friends.)
I'm convicted, which is good. I was quick to judge and quick to speak, about and to someone I don't know. Forgive me.
I'm really sorry if I offended or made you feel any worse after that horrendous day! Sorrysorrysorry. I pray that you continue being vulnerable and honest here, even to those of us who don't know you and have a lot to learn about "judge not..."
YIKES what a story...I'm glad you are OK, crazy, but OK..I had a good laugh, sorry. LOL.
Wow! This post got kind of crazy huh? From the comments to the entire story you just told. But more than that...you are kind of crazy, but I am so thankful you have a loving God to protect you.
My feeling at the end of this was total sympathy with Pat...he was probably SCARED TO DEATH and that is how it turned into a fight when you were on the phone. I don't want to imagine the look on Chris's face if I called and said, "I'm just going to keep my cell phone in my pocket in case these people I'm confronting decide to shoot me in the head." Because the rest of that which was left unsaid is "And if that happens, you just get to listen to the sound of it and the sound of our children's screams, because you have no idea where I am or how to get to me." I am glad you retreived the bike, but I would not want you to do it again. Next time let me know and I'll buy Rebekah a new bike. :-)
Post a Comment