My kids have this funny thing they do. Often, after playing in a game somewhere, they bring their empty water bottles back to the car with them. On the ride home, they stick the bottles out the window, and depending on the position you hold the bottle, and the speed of the car, you can produce different sounds. The kids are getting so good at it, that they actually had some harmony going the other day. J.J. thought it was an A and an F, but who’s to say.About two weeks ago, we were driving home from the tennis courts, and Noah had his bottle out the window, trying to make the lowest pitched note he could. It was just the kids and me, and we all smiled as he experimented with it for about 2 miles or so.
We stopped at a red light at an intersection near our home, and suddenly I was completely doused through the driver’s side window of the car with a liquid I later discovered was soda.
Quite shocked, I turned to see a man in a red pick up truck in the left hand turn lane. He screamed something like, “That’ll teach you to try and throw water on my truck…” but my completely perplexed look must have caught him off guard.
“That kid over there,” he said, referring to Noah. “He’s trying to throw water on my car.” He was a VERY angry man.
“The bottle is completely empty,” was my feeble reply while I came to grips with the truth that I was covered in Sprite or Sierra Mist. “He’s just playing a game.”
“Tell the little f****r to play in front of someone else.”
Naturally, the red light refused to change to green. My children and I sat there in stunned silence, just wanting to get away, and he continued to look at us and make sneering remarks. When the left turn arrow turned green, instead of drive away, he sat right there – still staring at us. For a minute, I was afraid he was planning to follow us when our light turned green, but the car behind him starting honking its horn so persistently that he peeled away, screeching his tires the entire way.
The moment still makes me sad. My kids were frightened, I was sticky, the man was enraged.
So much for harmony.
5 comments:
Mean people suck.
Well, this doesnt help in the sticky situation, but you can relish in the fact that you raised your kid to know NOT to throw liquid on passing cars while that mans mom clearly did not.
And apparently... sierra mist might be refreshing inside the mouth, a dousing of it; not so much!
Our sermon series message recently had a quote.. and I paraphrase... we are like full cups and when nudged whatever is inside spills out. he was filled with anger. and not about getting WATER on his truck. Even if he did get water on it, who cares? Doesnt' he take it out in the rain. I hope your kids still make music. and maybe I should suggest this to my kid, who just leaves empty water bottles in the back seat.
What a lesson in so many ways....First, when we find ourselves longing for harmony, some assemblance of music in this dreary world, someone always complains that the volume is too loud and tries to squelch our quest for harmony. Secondly, the reaction after the rude gentleman cursed at you was what your kids will learn from. Not what he said or how he was so rude, but how you reacted to that is a very important lesson for them to know for later, when they will inevitably meet rudeness in their life somewhere. I want to say with all love that we should embrace some pity for this man, but I find myself still sitting in the back seat with your kids in utter shock over a very innocent game and plotting some sort of vehicular water torture for his truck. May God deal with that man because His judgement is much more appropriate than whatever we moms have. A good spanking is what he needed.
I hope your kids will continue to make music. I hope they will continue to spruce up this noisy world with some awesome water bottle harmony!
God Bless you and your family!
Entirely too many people are easily "set off" with useless anger.
Can you imagine what would have happened if he reacted that way to someone else as equally aggressive in nature?
It's a shame so much of the world seems to head in that direction.
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