Thursday, August 23, 2007

Bravery.

Yesterday my definition of bravery was tied closely to the idea of stupidity. It was a fine line. Here's what happened.
I decided to try online photo processing and spent much of the afternoon waiting for LOTS of pictures to get uploaded and then I placed an order to be picked up at my local Walgreens. Easy. That part was easy.
The part where it took some bravery was when I had to load up 4 young children...at dinnertime...and tote them to the store and into said store to pick up my finished photos. I could have waited for Chip to pick them up for me on his way home from work. But that wouldn't have required much bravery or challenge on my part. The other factor here is that I am now a real-life obsessive scrapper at times. Pictures will make me do crazy things. Brave things. Not always the smartest things...you get the picture. =)
I was actually fairly impressed with my young brood as we walked through our Walgreens. They did want to add some candy lipsticks and remote controls to my photo purchase...but I held my ground and stuck with the pics and a buy one, get one free hair color. Just the necessities.
To reward their good behavior, and to justify a trip to Walgreens for pictures at dinnertime, I took them all to Wendy's. Now THAT was brave. And if nothing else, I hope that it inspires some of you parents with fewer children than I, to go on brave outings in your own life. The chocolate frostys were worth it to me. By that part of our trip, my kids all thought I was "the best mom ever". =) I guess it's not a bad thing to be brave from time to time. The only thing I didn't get from that memorable outing was a picture of all of us. Being brave together!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am with you girl! I just started to baby-sit my neighbor's 4 month old this week & by Wednesday I was brave enough for a quick trip to Cosco with the baby and my 2 & 4 year old boys!! Milk & bread was all I could handle, but my boys were rewarded with churros at the end!! Yeah for us!
MaryAZ

Anonymous said...

I got brave and took care of twin 4 month olds Tuesday !! wow I realized I could handle it but was glad my teen daughter was around. I did get a treat the parents brought me "Burger King" !!!

Frapper said...

I applaud your bravery, and I'm sure your children enjoyed the "adventure"! I hope there are more times like these for all of you. I love your blog--I found it by accident, but have been returning every day to read your wit and inspiration.

Shawnna Samples said...

ROCK ON

Sounds like a treat that was well deserved - for you and them :D

becky said...

Oh, how I miss Wendy's frosties...and Walgreen's, too. Despite all of the great things about life in Romania, there's nothing here quite like a frostie, especially on a 100 degree day like today! Thanks for your constant reminders to see the blessings and joy in the "little" things of life.

ashlee said...

yes i know how you feel...when i go to sams with my 4 and we leave without me feeling like someone needs to put me in the nut house...i too feel quite brave and accomplished!

Anonymous said...

I actually struggle to take Ethan out of the house. When we go out, I have about 5 minutes before he'll put up a huge fuss. Just today we went to Baby's R Us and sure enough, he wanted out of the place immediately. I so wanted to stop off to get me an IC drink at Panera..but, I was feeling guilty for bringing Ethan out..should of just got that IC anyway. We mother's deserve some freedom..don't we Jody? Smile.

Unknown said...

Oooo, now you've got me craving a frosty, Jody!

Lisa said...

See, I'm sitting here today thinking of places I need to go, but don't want to because Cole's home from school. I should just be BRAVE and do it!!! Thanks again Jody for always being here!!!

Anonymous said...

although your adventure sounds like fun. Wendy's and all. If you have a costco near you they are great. You can upload from home and they will send them to you. you probably don't even need one near you. the only thing is you don't get the instant gratification.

Hilary said...

You crack me up Jody.
Been there, done that.

melanie said...

yes that is brave!! good for you.
when i read your post, i was reminded of a quote from the movie Spinal Tap
"it is such a fine line between stupid & clever"
lol
i find myself to be on the stupid side when i think i'm being clever.
off to COSTCO with 3 boys - my brave act for the day, wish me luck!
mel

Anonymous said...

I consider myself brave when I take both of my kids to the grocery store. I usually question why I did not wait to leave them home with their dad! Good for you and a good little treat for the kids.

isotroin tablet said...

I am so very grateful for your time.Thank you for being such an inspiration to me and others around you.