10 Minutes Late and a Mustache

Let me begin by saying how grateful I am to my amazing Mom for teaching me the importance of being on time. From the time I was little, she made sure that we were on time for everything! This was no easy task, as she had FIVE, yes five, kids to wrangle to each and every event, church service and day of school. I learned from a young age that being on time was a display of respect and also a form of being responsible. These were very good lessons that have stuck with me.

When I was young, single and naïve I simply could not understand why people were often late to events. I now have to look back at my young, naïve self and LAUGH at her! Oh, young Theresa, you have so much you do not yet know...but you soon will learn.

This morning was one of the many times when I have been completely stressed out about running behind schedule. We had planned to visit a new church, and I was really excited to do so, however I completely forgot to set my alarm last night. I woke up sitting STRAIGHT up, completely panicked at 8:30. Of course, today would be the only day in the history of my life with kids that I was not awoken by little people before the crack of dawn. Honestly, they are better alarm clocks than any alarm clock you can purchase at a store. 

Just this past Wednesday, Joshua came into my room at 5 am (it was still dark out, for goodness sake) to loudly announce that it was a "new day" and continued to repeat "Wakey wakey eggs and Sam" until I finally succumbed and got out of bed. Oye! My actual alarm was set for 6:30. Needless to say, Wednesday was a LONG day!

I digress. Back to this morning. At 8:30 I launched (literally) out of bed. I woke my peacefully sleeping family and began getting everyone ready so we would not be late for our visit to the new church. Things were going swimmingly. Everyone was dressed, teeth brushed, hair done, breakfast eaten, etc. "Ahhh"...I breathed a huge sigh of relief! My forgetfulness was not going to make us late. Of course, I had that thought too soon. I need to remember that from now on.

* Note to Self: Do NOT breath a sigh of relief until you have accomplished the task. If you do, you are sure to jinx yourself! *

As I was corralling everyone to the car, I immediately noticed that Joshua was missing! Of course, it can never be as easy as just getting everyone in the car and driving away, can it? I began my mad dash through the house calling for my little  Fragile X Man. He was silent, and that is NEVER a good thing! I gave up on simply calling for him and started going from room to room looking for him. It didn't take long to find him in the bathroom...SHAVING!!! "Joshy, WHAT are you doing?" I asked, trying to remain calm so that he would not cut himself. "I shaving my mustache, Mama" he replied matter-of-factly. Now mind you, we should have driven away 5 minutes ago and Joshua is 8! I did not anticipate that he would need to shave his mustache before church this morning.

Slowly I reached for the razor and took it out of his cute little hand. Then my mind started racing. How on earth did he get his little paws on that razor? We are super careful about keeping those types of items WAY out of reach for these very reasons. "Joshy, how did you get the razor?" I inquired. Joshua explained, "I taked my green chair and climb up shelfs and find it on the top." Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me! Now even keeping things on the top shelf isn't going to keep this little ninja from getting to them? Hmmm...I wonder how to fix this problem in the future. But at that moment I simply didn't have time to address a "fix" just yet. I put the razor away, wiped the shaving cream off of Joshua's face, hair, clean shirt and hands and quickly scooted him towards the front door.

As soon as we got in the car, Joshy very seriously looked at me and said, "Mama, how my mustache lookin?" SIGH..."Joshua, you have the most handsome mustache I've ever seen on an 8 year old" I replied. What else could I say? So, today we were the family that walked into church 10 minutes late. Way to make a good first impression, Taylors! Oh, if they only knew.