I just had to share this little experience!
On Thursday, Nate brought home the mail at his lunch break. I was SO excited to get the Ensign for this month, and eagerly ripped off the plastic cover to flip through it while the girls ate their lunch. H, of course, was intrigued by my interest, so I told her we'd look at it together after our quiet time.
She didn't forget, and as soon as we were up and at 'em again in the afternoon, she wanted to get it out and read it. We didn't get any farther than the inside of the title page! There we found a lovely painting of the five wise virgins, and since she wanted to know what it was about, I began to tell her the story of the 10 virgins.
"Once there were 10 beautiful girls. They were all good girls, but five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Wise means kind of smart, someone who thinks ahead, and foolish means someone who doesn't use their head - someone who doesn't get ready and think ahead. Anyway, these girls were all invited to go to a very special party, a wedding party where someone was going to get married. They were so excited! They got on their best, prettiest clothes - see, beautiful dresses and flowers on their heads!- and then waited for the time to come. Each one of them had a special little lamp in her hand, a lamp that they could hold up and light the way for all the special people coming to the wedding when the bridegroom came. See those little lamps? What else to they have in their hands? See those little bottles? Those are bottles of oil. The wise girls thought ahead and made sure they brought extra oil to burn in their lamps, but the foolish girls did not.
While they were waiting, guess what happened? It got later and later, and pretty soon, they all fell asleep. It was dark, and they were all sleeping when suddenly, far in the distance, someone yelled, "The Bridegroom cometh!"
They were all still kind of asleep, but then they heard it again!
"The Bridegroom cometh!"
Hurry, hurry, everybody, straighten out your clothes! All your lamps have gone out! Quick, let's light them! But remember, what was the problem? The five wise girls brought extra oil, but did the foolish girls? No! Oh, no! Their lamps were gone out and they had no oil to light them! They asked the wise girls, "Please, please, let us borrow some of your oil!"
But the wise girls said, "We can't give you any! Then there won't be enough for any of us! Run, run quickly to the store and buy some!"
But while those foolish girls were gone, guess what happened? The bridegroom came! And there was a whole group of people, cheering and dancing and playing music, and the five wise girls got to run in the front with their lamps burning brightly! (a little poetic license;) Everyone was cheering, "The bridegroom cometh! Hurray! Hurray! The bridegroom cometh!"
They all went along to the bride's house and then they all went inside! And because it was night, they shut the big gates, boom!, and locked them so no bad guys would sneak into the party. It was such a great party! There was light and tasty food and music and dancing, and everyone was so happy!
After a while, those five foolish girls came running up to the door, and they knocked on the door, bang! Bang! Bang!
"Let us in! Let us in!"
But the bridegroom said,"I'm sorry, I don't know who you are! I can't open the door!" And those foolish girls were left outside. They didn't get to go to the party at all.
This was all told in half-narrative, half-dramatized voice, and H. loved it so much that she had me repeat it three times in a row! Her favorite part was hearing me shout, "The Bridegroom cometh!" and then running around and dancing and holding up her "lamp" while cheering and shouting it herself. ;) Lots of fun!
Awhile later, her mama came to get her. Of course, at that moment, the adults are all in a hurry and the children are all like molasses. I hustled H. upstairs to get the blanket she'd brought, and we found Eden in the spare bedroom, investigating a box of prepackaged alcohol wipes. (Nate was nearby.) H. wanted to know what those little things were, so I told her.
"They're alcohol wipes. Come on, lets go!"
"Can I have one?"
Aaahhh! Let's go! "Sure! Here, here is one for you. Now let's go! Your mama is waiting downstairs!"
"Oh! OK. I'll save it til I'm grown up!"
What?! That's strange. Whatever!
She still dawdled. I tried to gently hurry her along. No luck. At the top of the stairs, she totally stalled. You know how little kids' pockets and hands never quite seem to fit together properly? She was trying to stuff it into her pocket without success, and would not go until it was safely stowed. I told her to just go downstairs and her mama would help her, but she started to hyperventilate and lock her knees so I offered to just put it in her pocket myself. That calmed her down.
"And so my mama won't know. It will be a secret! She can't know! Hide it from her!"
Again, what?!
"Honey, its ok! You can show it to her and she'll help you use it!"
"No! No! We have to keep it a secret!"
Ok. Whatever. It was in her pocket, we finally made it downstairs and they were out the door.
Fifteen minutes later, as Nate and I were getting ready for a date, I heard my text alert ding. It was from H.'s mom. Apparently, H. couldn't hold her secret in any longer and so she confided to her mother that I had given her alcohol to drink, and it was hidden in her pocket!!!!
AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
That was why she told me she'd "save it until she was grown up!" That was why she wanted to keep it as secret from mommy! and why she freaked out about taking it downstairs in the open!
So here I am, a corrupting influence, teaching my little charge bible stories in the afternoon and then sending her home with a little alcohol in her pocket. Yep, that's me!
(Thankfully her mom trusts me, and carefully explained what I'd actually given her and how it was used. I'd hate to think what kind of memories of me she'd carry through her life if not!)
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