The Times that Try Men's Souls

Having a big lunch with my son at the Golden Corral in Easton MD via dickster1961

Yesterday was one of those days that I always dread.  It was the day that my wife was going to take our son back to school after his break home.  Those trips are always a bit of a challenge getting him into the car for the long drive back to school, but they are especially difficult when the break home has been a long like his nearly two week Christmas break.

Monday night, I naively thought that it might be a bit easier this time around.  I was washing dishes in the kitchen when I heard him in the living saying that Stephanie (his teacher) was a pretty girl.  He then proceeded to tell me how many earrings she has, 4 which for some reason he notices.  Later we were sitting on the couch when he started talking about "The Morning Rush" on a radio station that broadcasts near his school.

I woke up yesterday and got ready to head off to work.  My son was up before I left the house, so we talked and I told him I would see him later, without bringing up the subject of school.  He seemed fine.  My wife usually tries to head out to school between noon and 1 pm.  When she gets him in the car and they are on the way, she gives me call to let me know that they are on the way.

I started to get a little concern that I had not heard from my wife as the clock moved closer to 2pm.  I was talking with a friend of mine in the office and told him that I was almost afraid to call home to check in with my wife.  Sure enough, a few moments later my cell phone rang.  Unfortunately, it was not my wife calling to tell me they were on the way to school but that for the past two hours our son had been hitting, kicking, and yelling at her.

I decided that I would leave the office early to see if I could somehow manage to get him in the car and take him back to school.  The entire drive home, I was praying that God would give me the patience to deal with my son and my wife, who was naturally upset and frustrated.  I also prayed that somehow he would help my son to be willing to get in the car. I arrived home around 3pm, and spent two hours trying to keep him calm and endure some hitting and kicking sent in my direction.

I was able to maintain a calm demeanor until my son exhibited a behavior that he had displayed at school but never at home.  My son wears Depends because he is still not toilet trained in regards to bowel movements, but does manage to urinate in the toilet.  The behavior that he now displays is that if wants to avoid doing something, he will urinate in his pants.  While laying on the couch, he told me that he peed his pants and needed a bath.  Even with the Depends, there was leakage onto the couch.

Finally, after two hours, I was somehow able to get him to get up and go to the car.  He did end up dropping to the ground twice between the house and the car, but he got up relatively quickly and got into the car.  So, around 5pm we started the nearly 60 mile trip to his school.  Once he was in the car and realized we were headed to school, he was fine, not happy, but fine.  We arrived at school just in time for him to have dinner.

After we got him settled and took care of all the assorted business, we headed back home.   By the time the night ended, we didn't get back home until around 8 pm. We will probably head back out to see him in a couple of weeks and take him out to lunch at Golden Corral and then go to Target so he can get some new CDs.  He is already looking forward to that.