I knew.
Forty feet away, his features obscured by the bright sun gleaming through the window behind him . . .
I knew.
The shape, the color, the way the collar rested on his shoulders . . . I knew.
No confusion, just clarity. I knew exactly what had happened that morning. Even though he didn’t understand it himself.
Yes, this very morning, my eight year old son walked into church . . . . wearing a girl’s shirt. A very-clearly-cut-for-a-girl-and-slightly-puffy-sleeved shirt.
See, I left the house at 7:15, leaving my wonderful and overall-very-capable husband to get the three kids ready and to church by 8:10.
Last night, I purposefully chose my daughter’s dress and matching sandals. I placed them carefully over the chair and repeated the phrase “THESE shoes. Don’t come to church in any shoes but THESE” over and over. And over.
I mistakenly believed that since my boys have so many fewer choices, I was safe to shirk my outfit-choosing-responsibilities for them.
But I forgot about the shirt. The girl’s uniform shirt hanging in their closet.
My daughter doesn’t have to wear a uniform to kindergarten, but someone had given her a few uniform pieces in a bag of hand-me-downs. After washing it, I absentmindedly hung the shirt in the boys’ closet with the rest of their shirts.
I generally pull clothes for them to wear each morning for school, since they tend to be rather unaware of what they’re putting on. (Hence this post.) I had seen the shirt hanging there, but I knew to avoid it.
Out of place items don’t get on my nerves, I just work around them. I go with the flow.
But I was tired last night.
And running late this morning.
Here’s the thing. I knew that shirt was in their closet. I knew it wasn’t supposed to be. But I have this amazing ability to work around stuff like that. It doesn’t bother me because I can just avoid it.
The other people who live with me? Not so much. And then something like this happens. As it always . . . eventually . . . does.
I’m guessing the extreme adaptability that serves me well in other areas of life . . . is also part of my slob-problem.
Thankfully, I was finished early with music rehearsal and had just enough time to run him home to change before the service started. And thankfully, he forgave his absentminded mama.
Wow! I never made that connection about myself! I have been praised for my ability to be laid back and chill but people have to invite me places 30 minutes early so that I’ll be there on time. It’s not fun! Thank you for your honesty and transparency with us. I’m always amazed by how I am not alone!
LOL I can’t stop laughing. to funny.
Thank you, Lord, for giving me two boys! 😉 (Cause that is definitely something I would do!)
Nony – I love most of your blog postings… But you do invite people to speak their mind and this post made me pause. Mostly because I am fiercely committed to anti-gender-stereotyping. And at some level a shirt is a shirt. If a boy wears a shirt and can’t tell that it’s a “girl” shirt then what’s the harm? I try very hard to teach my children that there is no difference between boys and girls except for their private parts. So my question/comment is not meant to be a critique – just a question to challenge why we (society, not you specifically) think kids need to be forced into “boy” or “girl” roles in every single product they choose – down to a plain white shirt.
I TOTALLY understand where you’re coming from.
However, my ultimate goal is to guard my child’s heart, and this child would have been hurt by the teasing. We live in a small town where ALL the kids wear these uniforms, and this one, though a plain white shirt, was clearly a girl’s shirt.
I’m big on my kids living with their own mistakes, but this wasn’t his mistake, and was proof that he actually doesn’t notice these differences. It was my mistake, and since the timing allowed for it, I was more than willing to correct my mistake to avoid any embarrassment for him.
Make sense?
I was kind of with the first poster about the gender stereotyping, though I do live some place more forgiving.
I am just going to poke you a little more-was this really your mistake? Don’t your boys and your husband have some responsibility here?
I think part of what makes it hard to keep our homes is the idea that we’ve got to do it all ourselves. You’ve done great things with teaching your kids to be part of the cleaning (Do they still have their jobs, BTW?), but I think an 8 year old and a grown man ought to be able to get dressed in the mornings.
Which is not to say I haven’t bailed my kids out of their own mistakes, like making an extra trip over forgotten lunch boxes.
That is hysterical!
Years ago my son was singing in the children’s choir and I happened to notice while sitting in the audience that he had his shirt on wrong side out. I don’t know how it happened or how we missed it but more than a few people snickered. It was pretty obvious.
My 4 yr old son would totally do that on purpose to get a laugh…and I’m not sure he would care whether they were laughing at him or with him. He loves to wear different colored/patterned socks. One day he even tried to get away with wearing 2 different shoes.
However, doing it by accident and getting laughs might be a totally different story for his little ego.
As I was reading this, I realized that this is most of the problem in my home! I am able to look over something that is out of place and avoid it, but the rest of my family can’t. I’ll have to work on that.
Been here and done this! I had a girls shirt in my 3 year old son’s drawer. Except the difference is *I* put him in a girl’s shirt.
Ooops!
This totally made me laugh out loud! Your build up to it was wonderful, and oh so suspenseful that when you actually told us what had happened, I literally was laughing loudly. So, so funny.