Part of My Story

So I went to my home away from home today- the Taj maTarget.  I was headed out with my items in a storage container, kinda heavy, but determined to carry it so I could call it a workout, and I saw a familiar face.

Rewind two and a half years.  My oldest was in preschool and it was the beginning of the year.  A mama was talking to the teacher with her son by her side.  She told the teacher that she was withdrawing her son to homeschool him.  It was a wonderful school, but they had just made other plans.  I remember thinking, "How sad.  Surely she will regret this. I'm off to the gym, yo.  Good luck with that one, chica."

The teacher told the class and my little girl came home singing the praises of homeschool.  "Mommy, my new friend is going to be home schooled!  How wonderful!  I want to be home schooled, mommy!"  Well, I just said, "Sure baby.  Yeah whatever.  I am so glad it worked for them."  Brushed it off just like I did her other great notions. (A water park in our back yard, jumping into the TV to join all our TV friends, flying to the moon together as a family for a picnic, seeing how many balloons it would take to whisk us off to Jesus, etc.)

Well, her desire increased as she went to public school kindergarten.  I was not interested in homeschooling.  (My husband, on the other hand, thought it was an interesting idea.  Mainly because it was intriguing to be "off the grid" so to speak and let our kids freely learn.  Hogwash, I thought.  I needed my gym time.  Public school you have my permission to box my kids mind up cause we aren't doing that one, ok Jack?)

Anyway, by the end of the year of kindergarten (a good year I should add) she still wanted to homeschool.  I was tired of getting the worst of my child in the afternoon (tired, grumpy) and sending her best off (energtic, lively, and ready for the world.)  Bottom line, public school at this phase in our lives just didn't work.

Now, year to year and kid to kid we evaluate.  But, today we are all happy.  It's not easy, but my soul is at rest with where we are.  Good thing since homeschooling is harder than squeezing my lady parts into my pants from last year.  Good thing indeed.

Today I waited as this homeschooling mama finished talking, wondering if she would think I had lost my marbles approaching her.  But I felt led by God to tell her and I'm fairly determined (dare I say hard-headed?), so I stood and waited.

She finished chatting and I said, "You don't know me.  But you are a part of my story. Your bold decision to homeschool planted a seed in my little girl that allowed us to make a lifestyle choice for the better for our family.  You need to know this.  You did a good job, mama.  Please tell your husband, too."  (Husbands are sometimes overlooked but my husband is very much a spiritual and physical part of our schooling...praying as we work, helping me out with math (God help us all!), giving me gym time and refresher mama times, etc.)

Anyway, she told her son who I was. (I even forgot to tell her my name that's how crazy I am. Perhaps I will be that random lady from Target sweating carrying all that merchandise when a cart was 5 feet away...Sadly I'm OK with that.)

And we both were teary.  I hugged her and left.

She was written into my story.

She has no idea who I am.  She made a bold move, went before me, and God used my little determined girl's pleading to bring us to a lifestyle change.  A holistic change that has worked at bringing us all together, and made some (one) of us heavier.  (Thank God you redeem the soft, too.)  Glad she's in my story.

Can I be honest in this little baby I call my blog?  There are people I would like God to have left out of my story.  People that I believe hindered the goodness of my story.  (Starting with Pee Wee Herman. I think my childhood obsession with him made me weirder. Connect the dots, la la la la...)  People that through the years seemed to serve to frustrate me, place me in a position of about to lose my freaking mind for the love of God take them away already.  Thorn in my side, please Lord.  Just place nice people in my path.  Don't I deserve that? Do you identify?

I guess I'm learning, mostly in hindsight,  that every person you meet, regardless of their "right" to be in your story, changes you.  I'm learning that God takes these situations, and if you are consistently open to it, he laser beam focuses you on learning from them.  Perhaps the situation never changes, but your heart changes and you get stronger.  God promises that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord.

And we may never see this clearly this side of heaven, but it's good.  (Even if you have to change your mantra chants from 'Lord please strike them dead' to 'God may I see you more clearly'.)

And if you're reading this, you have been written in my story.  And I'm thankful for you.