Monday, March 15, 2010

A Bit of Reality

I had my blog post all planned out. I was going to write about what an absolutely perfect day the girls and I had. How the weather couldn't be more beautiful. How the girls and I had such a fun time riding on the top of the double-decker red bus. How much we enjoyed our picnic lunch at one of the nicest parks in North London. How Antalya ate every last bite of her turkey, cheese, cucumber sandwich. How I stayed so calm and didn't let anything get to me. How perfectly well behaved the girls were on our spontaneous get away.

And then I was going to post pictures. Lots of pictures of smiling happy faces, spring-time flowers, ponds with ducks to feed, and explorations in a new park.

But somehow reality crept in and spoiled our lovely plans.

After picking Antalya up from school and excitingly telling her of all the plans we had the for the afternoon, I was shocked when just one block later we were left with this. And no amount of coaxing, begging, bribing, or pleading could get her to budge.
IMG_0610

It was alright though. I had thought something might try to foil our adventure. So I had a back-up plan. Plan B consisted of eating our picnic lunch at home, putting the girls down for a quick nap, and then heading out when they awoke.

Plan B went exactly according to plans. We made it out the door by 2:30. Still enough time for our 25 minute bus ride, an hour to explore, and then make it back home before rush hour. We boarded the bus with three huge grins, and paid the fare. And that's when it happened. Reality hit again!

I turned to see the bus completely full. Victoria suddenly found herself in a new environment and began screaming hysterically. The same crying she did a month ago went she rolled off the bed and suddenly found herself on the floor. In the same moment that Victoria started screaming someone offered their seat to Antalya and grabbed her hand to help her up. It was very kind of them, but definitely not the right thing to do. She begins screaming hysterically - the kind that involves jumping up and down and wailing her arms in the air.

I thought fast and quickly pushed the "stop requested" button.

Three blocks from home we exited the bus, and I was left standing on the curb with two screaming children and a shattered dream of our perfect afternoon out.

But that's the way life goes sometimes. Our best of plans fall through. We're left wondering what went wrong, and what do we do next.

So, what did we do? We headed to bakery and bought some cupcakes to share for Family Home Evening tonight.

They were delicious!

8 comments:

Kristie said...

Oh, thank you for sharing that I am not the only one to have plans spoiled by something I didn't plan on. Way to go, decided on something else to do, just as good! I hope you get to have your outing sometime soon, I would love to see pictures!

Alexis 18 said...

yup, that seems about right at my house too!

Runningmama said...

It always seems that when I make a plan, it rarely ends up the way I meant it to, but sometimes it's for the better.

Jan said...

Wow! That was quite the story . . .I felt like I was there with the 3 of you. Actually, I wished I was there with the 3 of you. You could've used a couple more grown-up hands (well, at least sort of grown up.)
Anyway, you made lemonade!!!!!

Poppy said...

I think the dream plans keep us going...even if they fool us often! Good thing you are so flexible and kept your cool...I'd say that was a success!

Laura said...

I LOVE THAT YOU SHARED A "REAL" DAY! Plans don't always seem to work when you factor in children, but as you know that's life...and I'm sure you wouldn't change it.

Sonja said...

Thank goodness for cupcakes!

And for mothers who know best.

Christine said...

You're great Sunny! You'll make it through especially with cupcakes at your table! I remember the first time I braved a bus ride alone with my three in Istanbul. It was really a challenge to keep them from running around the bus and screaming naughtily. Scary! Thank goodness for bus stops right?