A few weeks ago I was running errands with Wyatt. Moving through an intersection we came within centimeters of what would have been a serious collision with another car. Immediately I'm grousing about other drivers. I looked at the driver in the other car - she was also grousing and I think I saw a few cuss words. I couldn't believe how rude she was. I must have said something about it because Wyatt said something like "YEAH! She is rude, Mommy!" That is when I looked up at the stop light and realized that I was the driver who had not been paying attention because I had full on run a red light. By this point the other lady had moved on. She didn't see me apologize or acknowledge the near crash was entirely my fault. I offered a "Thank you, thank you, thank you" to God for keeping us all safe and I asked Him to bless that lady and to let her know that -I- know the whole thing was my fault and I was terribly sorry. I thought that was the end of it, but Wy brought it up 15 minutes later. He brought it up again the next day and a few days after that and almost every other day since then.
"Remember vat day when vat lady was rude, but YOU were rude and not vat lady? RIGHT?"
"Yes, Wy. I remember that day."
"Do you remember you made vuh accident and you were rude? RIGHT?"
"Yes, Wy, I was rude."
At this point he launches into a series of questions that I have to answer by re-hashing everything that happened. We end up asking God to bestow blessings on the lady who was not really rude.
This usually ends with Wyatt admonishing me about being rude.
Having been through this exchange with him so many times I'm starting to think Wyatt isn't really admonishing me about being rude but rather that he is trying to understand that we don't have to be rude. Heavy stuff for a three year old.
The down side of revisiting this incident so frequently is that I would really rather forget that I nearly caused a serious accident, which quite possibly could have injured any of the three of us and totalled one or both cars bringing on financial stress and hiked interest rates...
The up side is that Wy and I are frequently asking God to bless someone we don't know: someone who doesn't know she has well-wishers driving around Kansas City. And I think we are learning together that being rude doesn't serve anyone. Or maybe I'm putting too much into it, he is three.
So I ask God to bless the lady I almost crashed into a few weeks ago and I ask God to bless you today too.
