Guilt Game - You Be the Judge - March 3, 2018
Sunshine and a Purple Dress: Guilt Game – You Be the Judge 😊
Some moms and daughters have bake offs. My mom – Granny Marj – and I have “guilt offs.” Who feels the most guilty about things accidentally done to their kid or kids. Here are our #1 stories. You can be the judge.
Here is Mom’s story…
My parents got me a beautiful springhorse and I loved to ride him, until I got too big for him. I can’t remember his name – I’ll call him Joe – but Joe was very large and took up almost all the room in our glassed in front porch.
Mom decided it was time to sell Joe, so she put an ad in the paper and some folks came over to buy him. Tears started to roll down my cheeks when I realized what was going on and by suppertime, I was inconsolable. If I am not chowing down on my food, you know there is something terribly wrong.
My mom said to me, “But Janice, you didn’t ride him anymore.” And I responded, lips quivering, “He was my friend. I liked his eyes…” Needless to say, my mom didn’t sleep that night, and she vowed she would never give any of her children’s toys away again. And she didn’t.
Here is my story…
We sent Anna and Tom to John Island with money they had made from their Northern Life paper routes. John Island was the YMCA camp and it was “the place” to send your kids. “We” wanted to be model parents so I said that “we” would drive them and pick them up. This meant that Laur would drive them and pick them up. Carolyn and Elaine were still ankle-biters at that time.
So, on a Saturday morning, off Anna and Tom went – not to be seen until the following Saturday – pick up time – 11 am. Or at least, that was the day I THOUGHT we were supposed to pick them up.
We had a grand week – Anna and Tom not so much (but that’s a whole other story) – and decided to end our week of having only two kids by going to visit my sister-in-law and brother at a campground in the Parry Sound area. Jim and Dorothy can confirm our alibi.
We got home around 8 pm and there were about 10 messages on our answering machine. What?! The messages went something like this:
-This is John Island Camp, wondering when you are going to pick up Anna and Tom. They were supposed to be picked up at 11 am.
-Sigh, click
-This is John Island Camp, wondering when you are going to pick up Anna and Tom. It is now 1 pm
-Sigh, click
-This is John Island Camp. It is now 3 pm. We are going to drive Anna and Tom to the YMCA in Sudbury and you can pick them up there.
-This is M. F. from the YMCA. Your children are now at the YMCA in Sudbury and are wondering where you are.
-This is M. F. from the YMCA. I’m going home from work now and I’m going to bring your children to your house. I hope you will be there.
-This is G. H. from across the street. We have Anna and Tom here now. Come and get them…
-This is G. H. We are going to feed your children supper.
-This is G. H. Your kids have had their baths and are getting a little worried…
I truly nearly had a complete freak-out. I left our youngers with Laur and ran across the street to get Anna and Tom. Anna looked OK, but Tommy had been crying. Anna had suggested, “Maybe they were killed in a car accident!?”
You might think – it can’t get worse than this. But it does. G.H. worked for the Children’s Aid Society of Sudbury. Gah! And M.F. was about to become our new neighbour – we were moving into the house beside her. Double gah! I could not make up something this fantastical!
*****
Is there a good side to any of this? Well, Mom never gave one of my or my brother’s toys away again. Her grandkids and now her great grandkids are loving the large and unusual collections of trucks and dolls and pull toys and books.
G. H. never reported us. In fact, she thought it was really funny because she had figured out what happened. She knew my capacity for meaning well but getting things wrong.
And M. K. and her hubs ended up really liking our kids and us. When we were moving in she brought us a warm yummy loaf of banana bread…
But part of me wonders if perhaps she was just smuggling in some bread crumbs to our kids, so they’d be able to find their way home again.
Some moms and daughters have bake offs. My mom – Granny Marj – and I have “guilt offs.” Who feels the most guilty about things accidentally done to their kid or kids. Here are our #1 stories. You can be the judge.
Here is Mom’s story…
My parents got me a beautiful springhorse and I loved to ride him, until I got too big for him. I can’t remember his name – I’ll call him Joe – but Joe was very large and took up almost all the room in our glassed in front porch.
Mom decided it was time to sell Joe, so she put an ad in the paper and some folks came over to buy him. Tears started to roll down my cheeks when I realized what was going on and by suppertime, I was inconsolable. If I am not chowing down on my food, you know there is something terribly wrong.
My mom said to me, “But Janice, you didn’t ride him anymore.” And I responded, lips quivering, “He was my friend. I liked his eyes…” Needless to say, my mom didn’t sleep that night, and she vowed she would never give any of her children’s toys away again. And she didn’t.
Here is my story…
We sent Anna and Tom to John Island with money they had made from their Northern Life paper routes. John Island was the YMCA camp and it was “the place” to send your kids. “We” wanted to be model parents so I said that “we” would drive them and pick them up. This meant that Laur would drive them and pick them up. Carolyn and Elaine were still ankle-biters at that time.
So, on a Saturday morning, off Anna and Tom went – not to be seen until the following Saturday – pick up time – 11 am. Or at least, that was the day I THOUGHT we were supposed to pick them up.
We had a grand week – Anna and Tom not so much (but that’s a whole other story) – and decided to end our week of having only two kids by going to visit my sister-in-law and brother at a campground in the Parry Sound area. Jim and Dorothy can confirm our alibi.
We got home around 8 pm and there were about 10 messages on our answering machine. What?! The messages went something like this:
-This is John Island Camp, wondering when you are going to pick up Anna and Tom. They were supposed to be picked up at 11 am.
-Sigh, click
-This is John Island Camp, wondering when you are going to pick up Anna and Tom. It is now 1 pm
-Sigh, click
-This is John Island Camp. It is now 3 pm. We are going to drive Anna and Tom to the YMCA in Sudbury and you can pick them up there.
-This is M. F. from the YMCA. Your children are now at the YMCA in Sudbury and are wondering where you are.
-This is M. F. from the YMCA. I’m going home from work now and I’m going to bring your children to your house. I hope you will be there.
-This is G. H. from across the street. We have Anna and Tom here now. Come and get them…
-This is G. H. We are going to feed your children supper.
-This is G. H. Your kids have had their baths and are getting a little worried…
I truly nearly had a complete freak-out. I left our youngers with Laur and ran across the street to get Anna and Tom. Anna looked OK, but Tommy had been crying. Anna had suggested, “Maybe they were killed in a car accident!?”
You might think – it can’t get worse than this. But it does. G.H. worked for the Children’s Aid Society of Sudbury. Gah! And M.F. was about to become our new neighbour – we were moving into the house beside her. Double gah! I could not make up something this fantastical!
*****
Is there a good side to any of this? Well, Mom never gave one of my or my brother’s toys away again. Her grandkids and now her great grandkids are loving the large and unusual collections of trucks and dolls and pull toys and books.
G. H. never reported us. In fact, she thought it was really funny because she had figured out what happened. She knew my capacity for meaning well but getting things wrong.
And M. K. and her hubs ended up really liking our kids and us. When we were moving in she brought us a warm yummy loaf of banana bread…
But part of me wonders if perhaps she was just smuggling in some bread crumbs to our kids, so they’d be able to find their way home again.