- will rogers
the evening started off so well.
i walked through the front door after work greeted by my two little guys,
and my big guy was just finishing putting the five loads of laundry away.
we had a 'breakfast' dinner and later UPS delivered a package that was addressed to finn.
he opened it to find a mechanical 'brush robot kit' and screamed "i've always wanted this".
we read the sweet message inside from a sweet couple and finn said "that was so nice of them".
he was anxious to start building right away.
before he began, i wanted to take a photo of him with his new gift.
christopher told me my camera bag was in his car because he photographed a project earlier.
because i was preparing food for the boys' lunchboxes,
i asked finn if he'd bring it to me. he did.
he dropped it right down on the kitchen's ceramic tile next to me.
my heart seemed to stop.
christopher said "that doesn't sound good".
i unzipped it PRAYING it wasn't the new (and very expensive) lens
that c just bought me for christmas.
as my luck had it, it was.
i saw the crack and lost it.
(my sister has said my camera is like my first-born child)
i yelled at finn for not handing the camera to me,
he told me it's not his fault.
i should have told him then and there it wasn't,
but i continued yelling about cameras and lenses being *very* expensive.
he ran upstairs very upset,
and probably scared of me.
then i turn to christopher in anger because
he didn't have the camera stored in the padded area of the bag.
it was loose in the main compartment!
my anger towards him caused him to tell me how poorly designed the camera bag was.
he yelled back that the entire camera bag should be padded.
this bag is one i recently purchased and love, and yes, it isn't entirely padded.
the padded compartment is inside the main bag and the camera/lens have to go
into this compartment in order to be protected.
i yelled back that he should have looked into the bag to see how to store
it and also he should have felt the bag so he'd know it wasn't all padded.
scoutie got upset because of all the yelling and started crying.
it was NOT a pretty sight in the gerber household.
christopher in the meantime was looking at the lens protector which was clearly shattered.
i asked if the ACTUAL lens was broken,
but he couldn't remove the lens protector to see,
because it was jammed from the drop.
he said the new lens 'appeared' to be ok.
that brought my heart rate down some, but i was frustrated.
tomorrow he will take it to our local camera repair shop to have them look at it.
shortly after, finny came down with his piggy bank and says "here mom"
and sits it in directly in front of me goes back upstairs.
my heart sank.
all year long, he saves any extra dollars or coins he gets and drops into his piggy bank.
right after his birthday we deposit it all in his college savings account.
he was offering his year-long savings because he felt responsible for what had happened.
i felt horrible.
i pulled myself together and went upstairs to apologize for my behavior.
it was a very humbling moment.
here i'm the grown up but the one who acted like a child.
i'm forever telling the boys "things" aren't important
but somehow tonight when it mattered most,
i forgot this.
fortunately, finn was forgiving.
now only if my husband will do the same...
