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Boots. Winter boots. This was the cause behind one m.a.j.o.r. up-the-stairs-into-the-bathroom-and-hide-behind-the-toilet-scream-and-run fit by Monkey this afternoon. Followed by this momma swooping her up and carrying her straight to the vehicle after work, shoeless and tears streaming down her sweet little face. Wow. Monkey in the middle. Middle = the issue. She gets hand-me-downs. And with as strong-willed as she is, hand-me-downs don’t always fit the bill. Miss Observant got a new pair of boots in preparation for the fall/winter weather, and Monkey got her “old” boots. And that just wasn’t going to work. So, she fell apart. Over and over and over again.
And the falling apart continued on the 20-minute ride home. After about 10 minutes, my mind was spinning elsewhere. To some serious tragedy both extended sides of our family had experienced over the weekend. Elsewhere. To a week chalked-full of report cards and parent-teacher conferences. Elsewhere. To trying to lift the spirits of so many around me who are s.e.r.i.o.u.s.l.y. hurting. So I glanced into the rearview mirror, because Monkey is my little right-behind-Momma’s-seat traveling buddy. And she was still falling apart. That’s when it hit me. She very obviously has no clue about the real-world events happening so close at heart. Nope. She lives in the moment. As most three-year-olds do. And at that moment, things just weren’t right. She needed her little world put back together. And so I told her we would make sure she got to go to the store and pick out some Monkey-approved shoes over our upcoming fall break. And that’s all it took. Her pieces were glued back in place, and a smile crept back across her face.
Oh, and I know it wasn’t just all about the shoes. She was tired. Amongst other things. But tonight’s ride home served as a much needed reminder for me. Her world and my world, though significantly intertwined, are still in very different realms. Tiny tot problems and thirty-something-year-old problems don’t always align. But they can most assuredly provoke the same feelings. And require similar delicacy in a response. And for those twenty minutes traveling home, both of our worlds were in need of some repair, no matter how opposite the causes of the crumbling may have been. God must have thought that winter boots would make for slightly humorous and neutral ground for a life lesson.