Sometimes a Mom has to brag!

July 17, 2009

I will admit that I was not expecting yesterday to be a very good day. I stayed up too late Wednesday night painting decorations for next week's VBS. I woke up with a terrible headache and neck pain, which only added to the black cloud that was my mood. To make matters worse, the sky was the color of an ugly bruise and it was thundering when I got up.

This was not the worst of it, though.

Luke had to go back to the dentist to get 3, count 'em, 3 cavities filled. (I swear he brushes his teeth. The sheer volume of toothpaste I find on the sink, the towel, the mirror, the counter, and the light switch testify to this!) In order to get desired behavior at the dentist, I put a bribe on the table:
Yes, I know that I'm crazy to inflict that on myself again. (Second time in only 9 days, but who's counting?) The headache, the fatigue, the weather, screaming kids? Face it, folks. I had all the ingredients coming together for THE PERFECT STORM.

I drove through a monsoon to get to Birmingham. Traffic was creeping along, when it moved at all. We finally made it to Dr. Barganier's office and hopped out, getting drenched on the way in.

Luke headed to the back for his fillings. Emma and I passed the time reading magazines and playing her brother's DS games. (I'll let you guess who did what there.) Finally, a smiling Luke comes out, followed by a smiling dental hygienist.

She says, "I have to tell you what just happened! He was such a sweetheart!"

I think to myself, "Oh, gracious. There's no telling what that boy just told them back there." Luke has a way of telling all our business to strangers sometimes. You never know what he's going to say.

She said "He did great with his filling, only one. The others really didn't need it." (Thank You, God! Mommy needs a new cell phone. ..) She went on, "He just kept us laughing back there. He's so funny!" (Later I found out he was telling them tales of how we had to leave the beach at the end of vacation because we were running out of food. Mmmkay.)

Then she told me something else.

I'll let Luke tell you in his own words:

"There was this old man. He was really old. Older than Granddaddy. He was scared. He was having the same thing done to his teeth that I did. They took me in his room and told him that I had my tooth filled and I was brave.

But he was still scared. He told me that he was nervous. I told him that I would hold his hand if it would make him feel better. So I did."

[Y'all take a Kleenex break with me here, okay?]

"I held his hand for a little while and they fixed his tooth. Then he said he felt better. He thanked me."

Chuck E. Cheese didn't sound like such a bad idea after that. I even took them to Toys R Us.

My heart is still very full today.