Thursday, September 13, 2007

DHR is coming to take my children away........

So you're probably saying to yourself, "Oh Brooke, quit being so dramatic." But wait. Hold on to that thought for a moment....this wasn't your run of the mill, "Oh I forgot to pick up diapers at Wal-mart, or smashed his fingers in the door, or didn't realize he had pooped for a couple of hours and he got a horrible rash kinda thing" which I've never done...but this, oh this, is the most horrible thing I think I have ever done!

I LEFT MY CHILD AT DAYCARE!!!!!!


You are probably thinking to yourself that it's still not a big deal but let me start with how my day progressed. This is absolutely horrible. I mean this brings up horrible memories of my mom leaving my brother at the grocery store when he was 5 and me and my sister giggling all the way home. Well, I don't remember us giggling...but we had to know he wasn't in the car right? Anyway, I just got off track....where was I? Oh, I took Jack to daycare (did I even hug him goodbye?) and went to work. One of my co-workers had a sickness in the family and had to go home, so we had to split one of our routes. This was all fine except that we had a TON of mail!!! My main focus throughout the day was just to get back before the truck left at 5:30 so they could take my outgoing mail.

Well here is where I forgot my precious son.

For a split second I thought that I should get Jamie to go pick him up since I was having to work over but that was the last time I thought of Jack until I pulled into the driveway (25 miles from daycare) opened the garage, got our Kentucky Fried Chicken out (see, I even thought of food before my son, oh and don't tell Dave Ramsey I stopped to get chicken). I drove ALL the way home and didn't even realize he wasn't in his car seat!!! This is the moment I realized I am the most horrible mother ever recorded in the history of time...ok maybe now I'm being a little dramatic, but still. Anyway, I got out and I could see Madeline in the truck through the window of our garage. She yelled "Do you have Jack?" This is where I lost my breath and immediately wanted to slam my hand in the door of my car. I ran in the house to grab the phone (my cell phone died earlier in the day and didn't have a charger..what a day for this to happen!) and called our daycare provider to tell her I was on my way. Jamie in the meantime is TORE up!!! Jamie and Madeline were about to go and get him because the daycare called and told him I hadn't showed up. He was worried I had had a wreck...because being the wonderful mother that I am, I would have NEVER forgot to pick up my son from daycare!

So, the story ends with me returning to town to pick up my poor forgotten son.....I'm beating myself up the whole way there and a song comes on the radio. Carrie Underwood's "Don't forget to remember me"......

15 comments:

Tammy P said...

You are a wonderful mother and obviously a hard working one. Dont beat yourself up over this. He was safe and that is all that matters. I just hope your daycare does not charge by the minute for any overtime that they have him. If so, there goes all the money you made by working overtime.

Deedra said...

I am cracking up over the bucket of chicken! LOL..when your husband reminds you of this for the next oh, say, 25 years..you can say,..well! At least I remembered your supper!

p.s...aren't you glad dwight c is on maternity leave and he doesn't have to find out?...He would definitely never let you forget it!

Natalie said...

Oh my gosh! I'd probably react like you...I'd feel awful. But at least all is well now and of course...you DID remember dinner. ;)

Oh and I found you through Wordless Wednesday, just in case you wondered.

And you can find the blogging biggest loser by going to
http://hunna.blogspot.com/ it's in her sidebar. You can join at anytime, we just started on Tuesday.

Lisa @ The Preacher's Wife said...

I'm rolling, ROLLING, I say!! At least D. won't be alone....I left my daughter in a restaurant for a full 20 minutes while I was talking to the Sheriff (a friend) in the lobby. He finally asked to see my little girl to which I slinked out of the restaurant to go find her. I hid in the car and cried until he left lest he be calling the DHR woman on his cell..:))

I'm sure the KFC smoothed everything over...!!

love ya!!

Lisa

Dimple Queen said...

OH...I was cracking up!! I was at the mall one time when my youngest was about 8 months. My boy decided to walk away while I was talking to the sales lady at JC Penny. I never knew it!!!!!! My hubby came up behind me and said, "Miss, is this your little boy?" Then preceeded to "let me have it" for "letting" him wander off. When I asked him where he found him, he told me he was headed outside!! I thought I was going to faint!

I feel your pain...at least your's was in a safe place!

Angela

Dimple Queen said...

OH...BTW...we are big Dave Ramsey fans too...however, I have to say we havn't been very faithful lately!

Angela

Deborah said...

I love your blog!!!!! I think I have left at least 2 of my 3 children somewhere (maybe on purpose) lol only joking but i have. love always me

Diann McDuffie said...

That is such a funny story! Hey, that kind of stuff happens. I'll never forget when we were kids that my little brother FELL OUT of the car (yes, while my mother was driving down the street). Thank goodness she had slowed down to turn a corner when it happened so all was well!

My mother retired from the postal service--she worked in the office though.

Thanks for dropping by my little world. Yes, I live near Mobile (Fairhope), so we are over there alot. Have a safe trip down here! BTW, you're going to love blogging. I've only been blogging for a couple of months and I just love it.

Andie said...

This happens to every parent at one time or another...I forgot a friend's child! Monday's I was supposed to pick her up from school when I picked up my dd, and drop her off at her grandma's a few houses down from mine. Well, one week I had errands to run and some work to do at church, at about 11:20 (20 minutes after school was let out) the grandma called church to ask if I had Hallie...OH NO!!! I felt HORRIBLE!! I figured that was the end of our friendship, but they were very forgiving, and understanding. Apparently her daddy was working in a field that day, and his brother was supposed to come pick him up, and also forgot...so they bonded over both being forgotten that day.
Enjoy the blogging thing...and if you figure out how to do the neat cursive name thing, let me know! I'd love to add that to my blog!
Blessings-Andie

Dimple Queen said...

Yeah, we did the Financial Peace University with our church one time about 6 years ago. The applying part is the hardest for sure! We still have some credit card debt, mainly home improvement type of stuff. We have tried to steer clear of using it all willy nilly. We still have a house and car payments, so we are definitely not "debt free". But we do think a lot more about purchases than we use to!

Angela

Amanda said...

I too have done this. I also have locked my kids in the car. I had to call pop-a-lock 4 times due to this absentmindedness. Good luck in the future!

Anonymous said...

Loved the story. I can actually see this after having such a bad day! Just wanted to let you know you have inspired me to blog so come over and visit me!

Suburban Correspondent said...

Don't worry - I can't count the places I've left a child. Elevators, bakeries, and (the one horrible, horrible time) napping in the car on a 90-degree day. I completely forgot that I hadn't brought him in. I thank God every day that my older 2 kids left the car doors open, because I didn't realize the 3-year-old was missing for 45 minutes (I had gone upstairs to nap the baby). And I never yell at a child for leaving a car door open by mistake - you never know when that will save a life.

Thank you, Lord, thank you, thank you!

Anonymous said...

It's better than the story of the guys who left his kid in the baby seat on top of the car and he went sliding off on the highway! Thank God he wasn't hurt.

Anonymous said...

last few days our group held a similar talk about this topic and you show something we haven't covered yet, appreciate that.

- Laura