iBeth: Missing Church

Today, I tried to go to church, I really did. But then Emma said she really really wanted to go, and getting her ready took longer than planned (even though she honestly tried to hurry).

When we left, it was pouring rain and a car accident happened right in front of us on the expressway: a speeding red sportscar spun out and crashed into the center divider. I wanted very much to stop and help the driver, but I was four lanes to the right on an overpass. To stop would have required me either to cut across three lanes of expressway to park along the center divider (where there was no shoulder) or to pull onto the right side, partly blocking the right-most lane, and run across four lanes of speeding traffic in the rain, and I was afraid to do either. Not to mention, both options would have required leaving Emma in a car that partly blocked a lane of expressway traffic--very unsafe for her, too. So I didn't stop, and I still feel terrible about that. Fortunately, other drivers braver (or kinder?) than I *did* stop.

Anyway, as you can imagine, I really felt the need of church after that experience. But we were late enough arriving that the service had already started, and no parking was available either in the lot or along the nearby streets. I didn't want to walk with Emma two blocks in the pouring rain through a part of town that has no sidewalks, only to arrive dripping wet halfway through the service.

Instead, we went to a nearby bookstore, which my husband jokingly calls "The Second Unitarian Universalist Church of Orlando." I wanted to buy a copy of Mary Poppins, since the movie and soundtrack have been such a huge hit with my girls, and since I'd failed to find it yesterday at the library. Just one copy of one book--a quick in & out. On our way in, I said to Emma, "Now we're only going to stay her for a little while. Understand?" And she said, "Yes, Mama."

After only a few minutes in the children's section, we had picked out four books: Mary Poppins, two board books for Amelia (one for now, one for her birthday), and a book about snakes. So much for our one-book plan. Then, when it was time to leave, she said, "No, I'm NOT ready! I'm NOT going to leave now. I need to play with the trains a long time."

"Emma, remember how we agreed we were not going to stay a long time? How we were going to leave really quick?" I asked.

"No," she said, "I don't remember that at all, Mama."

It was all I could do not to laugh. The other adults nearby also stifled laughs. Fortunately, Emma fell for the well-I'm-leaving-now-start-to-walk-away ploy. But inside, I was secretly proud of her for wanting to stay in the bookstore. That's my girl!