Okay, so now that you have been warned…here is a photo of my poor, sweet iPhone named Jane after yesterday’s trip to Walmart:
Here’s the backstory:
After the kids got home from school, I informed them that we had to go grocery shopping. They groaned about it, understandably so, after a long day at school…so I decided to make it fun. The “fun” was going to be had by timing our shopping trip with my handy timer on Jane. We bet that we could be out of there in 35 minutes. Off we went.
We made it all the way to checkout. My daughter put Jane near the conveyer belt and bent down to tie her shoe…the cashier said to me: “Is that your phone?” I said “yes, my daughter is timing our shopping trip.” The cashier was amused and we talked about how long the trip had taken, etc…I was feeling like Mom of the Year for my idea until…my daughter walked away from the phone. When I told her to go and get it, my son decided to step in front of her and grab it (familiar, right?)…that’s when I heard the clatter. And then I saw the shatter. And then I held in my tears until we got into the truck. My kids were uspet…offering me all of their allowance and carrying on about how sorry they were. Sigh. It turned out to be very. un-fun.
The moral of the story is this: Listen to your husband when he tells you not to let your children play with your phone.
The awesome thing that happened afterward made the whole nightmare worth it. I was able to pour out grace and forgiveness on my children. They felt terrible…they knew Jane couldn’t be easily replaced…and I knew that I shouldn’t have let them play with my phone. So at bedtime, when my daughter was still sad about the whole thing…I looked into her eyes and said: “Honey, I forgive you.” Tears streamed down her face and she told me that they were happy tears because she has the “best mommy ever.” I asked her if she knew why I forgave her. She answered: “because God forgives?” The girl gets it. And that is worth ten thousand iPhones. I take that back…that is priceless.
I should inform you that my phone is still fully functioning. Now, those cracks serve as a reminder of forgiveness…and I need reminders. I also needed a whole bag of gummy bears after the ordeal, but that is another story.
by stacy
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