Lesson Learned

Have you ever wondered how those single, lone shoes end up on the side of the road? In the middle of the interstate? I always imagined that someone was moving their stuff from an old home to a new home and the shoes just fell off the side of the truck. Or that someone pulled over to change a flat tire and one of a pair of shoes fell out of the back door or the trunk, only to be left on the shoulder of the road.

Well last week I learned the hard way how those single shoes end up where they are. And I also learned why most cars have the back windows that only go down half-way.

You're intrigued, now, aren't you?!

Mom had asked me to run by Dr. Tasman's office to pick up her contacts, and it was a nice driving day, so I figured, "Why not?" So I threw the kids in the car with their snacks, we rolled the windows down, strapped on our sunglasses, and cracked the sunroof. It was a gorgeous day ... and we had a great drive to the eye doctor. Since the doctor is on Wade Green Rd., I thought, "What better time to show the kids the house Josh and I grew up in?"

I drove them by the teeny, tiny house we lived in for 15 years. (It is now a commercial business of some sort.) Since it was so nice outside, we took the long way home, driving down Bells Ferry Rd. Coincidentally, this road also takes us by my mom's old neighborhood, so the kids could see the second house I grew up in.

Anyway, about 100 ft. past Mom's old entrance, Kendall started screaming. Hysterically. I didn't worry at first because, since getting the Accord, the kids have taken a liking to beating each other in the back seat; they can reach each other now, and I usually just ignore it until someone starts bleeding. (Kidding. You can hang up on your call to DFCS.) Not wanting to pull over on the side of Bells Ferry at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I simply told Kendall I couldn't help her until she stopped screaming like a banshee. About 5 seconds from the intersection of 92, she stopped and stated simply, "Tanner kicked his shoe out the window."

HUNH?!

So what does one do at this point? Do we allow the lesson to be learned -- that being don't kick your shoes out the window or you'll only have one shoe? Or do we stop, go back for the shoe, teaching the lesson that our belongings are worth a lot right now and we don't have money to waste by throwing our shoes out on the side of the road?

Decisions, decisions.

So I, with my blood pressure rising, turned the car around at the red light, drove back to where Kendall said Tanner kicked the shoe out, and parked in the turn lane. I had to drive by 3 times before Kendall spotted the little blue CROC on the side of the road. The poor thing had been hit by a car (thank God it was a CROC and bounced back!), and now Tanner has black skid marks to remind him of the lesson learned that day.

And what did Mom learn? Only give Tanner a crack in his window, and use the child locks every time! Oh -- and we may have a future soccer star on our hands!