Un-happy day

I have to say, today started off rather lovely. Well, it was cold and a little dreary outside, but inside, my cute little sweeties were in a snuggly mood and all was well with my soul. 

I kicked some scrambled eggs butt this morning, and didn't get out of my jammies until well into the afternoon. 

Good day, right?

Right. Good day, but a trying afternoon. As I mentioned in today's earlier post, Big Girl had her tennis lesson this afternoon. We got there just about 5 minutes early, and  two of the other students were already out on the court playing around. Big Girl and other little girl who walked in right as we did headed on down there. I was talking to another mom about some mundane something or other and all of a sudden I hear her little boy yell, "MOM!" Of course, all of us look and the other little girl who had been on the court was crying pretty hard and holding her eye. The mom I was talking to went down there to check things out, and from our seat, I could tell that the little girl had gotten hit in the eye. 

Great. 

I look around for Caroline, and I see her throwing tennis balls from her side of the court to the other. My blood pressure starts ratcheting up right then. 

Don't make messes, little girl!

The crying girl comes upstairs to where we were sitting to check herself out in the bathroom. I hear her say, "That new girl hit me! It was an accident, but it hurts!" 

I sort of knew then. We're new to the class, but I still wasn't 100% sure she was talking about Caroline. Once she came out of the bathroom and calmed down some, I asked if it was Caroline that hit her. She said, "Yes! It was Caroline! That's her name!" 

I wanted to cry. 

I was so mad, so upset, so embarrassed. 

Now, I know accidents happen, but the fact that Caroline hit this little girl (even accidentally) and didn't immediately apologize just ran all over me. To beat it all, she adds insult to injury (literally!) by throwing those tennis balls! So nonchalant!

OMGoodness, y'all. SOOOO mad. So very mad. 

I apologized to the little girl, apologized to her mom, offered to pay for her glasses (that I'm sure were bent, but I don't know if they would require replacing. I doubt it.), and made sure Caroline apologized to both of them as well. 

I gave her a strict talking-to on the way home, and I feel confident she knows she messed up and she knows to apologize and check on the poor girl next time an accident happens. And she knows not to throw #*&#$*& tennis balls! 

Then, still fuming, I come home to read through some blogs and put myself in a better mood. I ran across THIS POST on the Dear Lillie blog.  

Jennifer lost her dear, sweet young cousin in a terrible accident recently. I was already about to cry because I was upset about Caroline's behavior, and then here I am reading this sweet, heartfelt blog post about something so tragic. 

It certainly put things in perspective. I was so mad about this small accident, but this post just broke my heart. It seems like such a small thing to be mad about. How lucky I am to still be able to kiss and hug my girls and tuck them into bed tonight.

I love my girls so dearly, and I will always wonder if I am teaching them the right values and morals. 

Obviously compassion may need to be revisited. 

But, I can do that tomorrow. 

And what a {blessing} tomorrow is.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me a tomorrow with my girls. 

Another chance to do this right. To do the best I can by them and by others.