Kayla and James stood together in the doorway of their 3 year old’s bedroom. It was, for once, blessedly quiet. Their eyes moved over the plethora of items scattered all over the floor. Stuffed animals, duplo blocks, plastic dinosaurs, trucks, board books, balls, socks, and happy meal toys were all sprawled without dignity where they were last dropped or thrown. Some were items that had been lost at least once that long Saturday. The instigator of all of this chaos was finally and completely asleep. One small hand still gripping a green crayon, the other grabbing the covers, his bangs hair curling on his temple in darkened sweat; his breathing low and gentle. Asleep, Mason looked far too innocent to be the cause of all of this trouble. But here it was, 11:38 pm and Kayla and James had finally won the three and a half hour battle to put their young son to bed. –They both were completely exhausted. Kayla looked up to find her husband James looking at her. He motioned with his head for them to leave. As silently as possible they shut the door and slipped quietly down the stairs to the other end of the house where they were able to have a conversation that would not wake Mason up again. This meant standing together in the laundry room. “We can’t keep living like this.” Reasoned James. “We need some help”, he continued. “I don’t know what to do.” Said Kayla, interrupting and repeating back the same phrase that she had been saying for the last six months. James, this time surprised her with a new line. “What we need is a community. Your parents are not around here, and mine certainly aren’t either. What we need is something like a group of grandmas and grandpas who have been through this before who can tell us what will work.” “Or some moms who are going through this same phase, but have figured out a better way.” Kayla added. They both were silent for a minute as they thought. The smell of detergent and fabric softener curled through the air. “What was the name of those retired teacher friends of your mom’s? The ones that she said were great with kids?” “Mike and Debbie” Kayla replied. Then she added more hesitantly, “Mom said that they go to the Presbyterian Church and that we could connect with them there.” “Church. huh.” Pondered James. Kayla looked up hopefully. “Are you really considering going to a Church? You said that if they couldn’t prove things scientifically, you wouldn’t believe it.” “Well, I am ready to believe that Mason could use a dose of morality! He bit me today, twice. I think it is going to bruise. How is he ever going to be able to go to school if he doesn’t learn how to get along with other kids?” James flashed his forearm with two sets of perfect bite marks in front of Kayla. She glanced up from her phone to see his arm, and made a sympathetic face, but ignored it. “It says here on their website that church is at 10:45 am tomorrow. Nursery care is provided.” “Really?” Said James. “Free childcare? ” “Yup. During church nursery care is free. And hey, look they even have a Mom’s group that meets on Monday mornings at 10:30.” “Let’s try it.” Said James. “If they are the Christian community that they are supposed to be, maybe we can get some support or at least some good parenting advice.” “I am sure that we can.” Said Kayla. “Hey, while we are in here, let’s start some laundry, so that we have something clean to wear to church tomorrow.” “Ok” said James, “But I am not wearing a tie and that isn’t negotiable!” “I am sure that ties in church are optional.”
Article Published in Rockford Squire Newspaper 3/27/2017
