I found myself in a situation today that I never expected to find myself. I stopped by the Co-Op on my way home to pick up some groceries and fill up our water bottles from the water machines. I had my daughter with me as I often do when running errands. It’s been many years since I’ve had a car with manual door locks and I haven’t locked my keys in my car since I was probably 20 years old. Well, I did today. I packed my groceries in the trunk and lugged my water bottles into the front seat while negotiating with my 5 year old to get into the backseat instead of running around the parking lot and giving me a heart attack. Child in. CHECK. Water in. CHECK. Slam the door shut. CHECK. Keys...oh shit. My hands instinctively slam down on the tops of my thighs where my pockets are hoping to feel my keys dig into my skin. Nothing. Double shit. I lean over the window and lock eyes with Ella. I calmly tell her she needs to climb in the front seat and unlock the door. She gets out of her carseat (secretly I’m giving thanks that she learned to unbuckle the seat belt over a year ago even though it’s been a constant source of aggravation because she can do this at will) and makes her way into the front passenger seat. She grabs ahold of the door handle and pulls, but nothing happens because she hasn’t flipped the door lock up. I tell her she has to flip the latch next to the handle. She doesn’t understand what I’m talking about. I try again. And again. And again. I take a deep breath. I know she can do this. I just have to find the right words to direct her. I have to find a way to communicate with her using directions and words that her 5 year old brain with a limited knowledge of car door locks can understand. After several minutes she got it. I let out the biggest sigh of relief and wanted to high five my kid! There was a woman sitting a few feet away who was watching what was happening and when the door was open said “Wow! I can’t believe you just did that!” All I could think of was “I can’t believe I just locked my child in the car…” I was so embarrassed. But as I had more time to reflect on the situation I realized what a great lesson that was today. How we communicate with people. And not just children. With anyone. We assume that everyone knows what we’re talking about since we’re speaking in plain English, but sometimes those words get interpreted completely different. Or we get angry because we were misunderstood or think people are stupid because they don’t understand. Maybe we just need to breathe and take another tack...and get a car with keyless entry. #lifelessons
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 03:01:22 +0000
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