Responsibility.....and the lack thereof...

Kensey Rae and I went to eat at Nancy's house Monday night. Nancy, Becky,Ginger, Renee,Maralee and Andrea were all there with the whole clan...several girls within the age of 5 and under were bouncing ALL over the place and several of the "older" cousins were playing outside as well.

Kensey Rae had planned to go home with her Aunt Ginger and spend the night, so she had brought her cellphone along. I suppose that was a good thing. She has the phone so that I can get in touch with her NO MATTER what. Right?

Apparently sometime in the evening she lost the phone.

Richard and Cody stopped by to pick us up and as I was kissing Kensey Rae good bye, she whispered, "I can't find my phone".....of course, I, the calm, rational, and positive parent said, "Well, call it"...then..."Mom, I turned it on to vibrate only." This is where I started to lose it. "Kensey Rae, why on earth would you put it on vibrate only?" Kensey Rae answered, "because I don't like my ringtone and you won't let me buy a new one."

Now this is where somebody needs to take this child aside and explain to her that it is not her right that she have a phone at the age of 10!

I said, "Kensey Rae, WHO was going to call you anyway? Everyone who calls your phone is IN THIS STINKING HOUSE!"

That is when the tears started.

So, Richard and Cody start calling the phone. We listened for vibrating noises. No luck. A few minutes pass by and Andrea and Nancy enter the room. Then Ginger enters the room. We keep calling the phone and calling the phone. No luck.

We now start tearing apart all of Nancy's furniture.

At this time there is not a cushion on any of Nancy's furniture. The younger kids are screaming in Grace's room. The dogs are helping. My temper is starting to hit the danger zone. Kensey's face has developed the "red bumps from crying".....and still no phone.

Richard calls the phone again.

Andrea and I think we hear it, so we start flipping over furniture...in the meantime I find it completely ok to tell Kensey Rae that "this is the most ridiculous thing I have EVER heard of in my entire life!" I then start in with something like "I am so embarassed that my daughter isn't any more responsible than this"....I was tired, give me a break.

Anyway, I am not sure if Cody and Nancy went outside to escape my tantrum, or if they were searching for the phone. They keep calling the phone, we keep calling the phone, heck, the phone probably keeps calling itself. IT WAS CRAZY!

Richard keeps telling Andrea and myself that we are crazy and that we DID NOT hear the phone. Of course we argued that YES, we did hear the phone.

THEN...after a lot of time has passed...we hear...WE FOUND IT!

Apparently, Kensey Rae sat it on the window ledge OUTSIDE of the living room window by the swing.(SO YES RICHARD WE DID HEAR IT VIBRATE!!) AND of course, when Nancy found it...Kensey immediatly pipes up and says, "oh yeah, I remember setting it there" (is that where a day late and a dollar short phrase came from?

I just walked over to Kensey Rae and looked her in the eye and said, "this was very irresponsible, do you realize that? You need to keep track of your stuff, or I will keep track of it for you, do you understand me? Now, you need to thank Nancy and apologize to her as well for wrecking her house looking for that stupid phone...and if you ever lose it again, it's Mine. If you forget it somewhere, it's mine. Know where your stuff is, period. Are we clear?" Sigh. It was such a good Cindy line from my younger years. I had remembered it line for line. I was proud of myself.

So, after giving hugs and kisses Richard and I left, and Kensey Rae left with her Aunt and cousins.

I made it to the car.

That is when God decided to get down to my level and look me in the eye as I had just done with my daughter. I felt His precious hands on both sides of my face as he reminded me of something very important.

I left my purse inside that stupid house.

I quietly got out of the car. I walked slowly back into the house to find everybody wondering what I was doing back so soon. I walked slowly to my purse, took a big breath and said, "yes I forgot my stupid purse, and yes she gets it from me, and I am headed home." I closed the door and I was OUTTA THERE!

Responsibility....rolling eyes.....

Blessings,
Jen