My eyes opened wide like a frog’s eyes; I looked over to my left and saw that it was exactly 5:00 a.m. I thought for a few more seconds and realized that I had fallen asleep in my clothes (again!). I remembered my husband talking to me about his “parent – teacher” night at Creekland Middle School. I had fed and bathed the kids, put them to bed, and read my literature assignment while I waited for him to return home. As he took off his tie, he filled me in on the details and the success of his Power Point presentation, the parents’ comments and concerns, and how he was impressed with the parents of one of his students. I remembered all that, so why couldn’t I remember falling asleep? I sure hope that I didn’t just fall asleep while Brian was telling me all the important aspects of his day, but I think I did. His words must have just muffled on past my ears like the words in Alice in Wonderland had right before she fell into her famous deep slumbering tree tale. And now, as if I could almost hear that little white rabbit, I realized I was “late, late, for a very important date!” What day is it? Wednesday. My mom would be over to watch Jacob. He didn’t have speech class in Atlanta today, which meant that I was solo-ing it on the commute this morning.
“Oh Lord, I forgot to get diapers and milk last night! Now, I have to rush out of here, go to the all night Kroger Store, drop off the merchandise back here and get out of town before the traffic really gets bad, and above all get to work on time!” As if God had been taking notes to all my sayings, thoughts, and words in this book, I heard, “Just do it!” That deep inner voice of God that can sometimes be just as commanding as my Boot Camp Sergeant from the Air Force hit me and forced me into action. I jumped up so quickly that the head-rushing jolt didn’t hit me until I was scrubbing my hair in the shower. I was wet, dried off, and dressed in five minutes flat. I threw on my “uniform dress” which happens to be my Liz Claiborne, a white, red, and navy blue dress that I found at a consignment shop for $17.00. It never wrinkles, and it’s always ready to be thrown on in an emergency; thus, it has come to be my “uniform.” At 5:45 I was in the diaper isle. At 5:49 I was grabbing three gallons of milk, and at 5:59 I was loading the trunk. “One, two, three, four, five,” Three gallons of milk and two packs of jumbo diapers were stashed in the trunk. I threw my wallet and checkbook back there as well as I was in a rush! At 6:01 I was pulling out of the dark parking lot, approaching a red light that turned green right as I got up to it, and I was on my way home. Three seconds past the green light my trunk flew open! “Oh Lord, please don’t let the milk fly out and spill all over the road! Oh LORD, I forgot about my wallet back there and the checkbook, I just balanced the check book, I’ll never be able to figure out the bank statement without my register! Lord, please keep all the goods back there!” I pulled onto Brooks Drive and into the nearest cul-de-sac. Everything was still there. “Praise God!” I said out loud. I shut the trunk, firmly this time, and I was on my way home.
With the car in park, I quickly tucked the two stacks of “Jumbo Pamper’s Premiums” diapers under my left arm like a professional football player, snagging the loop hole handle of one gallon of milk like Ken Griffey snags a pop fly for the Atlanta Braves, and I was on my way up the garage stairs to the kitchen. The bedroom alarm clock was going “beep, beep, beep, beep,” attempting to wake up my tired teacher husband, and the puppy was emerging into a yawn. I put the diapers on the table and one gallon of milk in the fridge; Turning on my tip-toe and landing on my heel, like a dancer in CATS, I headed back to the car. (I still had two gallons of milk in the trunk.)
After the goods were stashed in their appropriate places, I turned the alarm clock off, woke up my husband, and made a quick cup of coffee. Once my adrenaline level dropped to normal again, I felt like a deer in headlights. I was staring at the parking lights ahead of me, exhausted, and driving towards work. I was two lights away from my house, bringing my cup of coffee up towards my lips, when I said, “Lord, it’s only 6:09 a.m., and I already want to cry in my coffee.”
Well, I didn’t cry in my coffee that morning, because as I said it, I realized that it sounded like a good chapter for my book. I laughed instead, because the other day I thought that I really had had enough “life experiences,” i.e., writing material, to write about for a life time, and I was hoping that things would settle down so that I could just write about all the life experiences that I already had, instead of “going through more stuff” and realizing that “it was good writing material” too. It’s really funny, when I think about it, to imagine that I just wanted some smooth sailing (no rocky experiences), a nice boat, and a laptop to write my latest book in, while sailing off into the sunset. Now, I was really cracking myself up! After all this traffic thinking, I had talked myself out of crying, or at least, distracted myself from it.
I knew that I just didn’t have enough energy to spend some of it over tears, some of it at work, and the rest of it at home this evening. I surely didn’t want to run out of energy before I got back home. I had to save the best of me for my kids, dinner, and bedtime stories. I didn’t have class on that particular night, which was a good thing. I wondered how I would be able to keep up though. I immediately remembered though, what Vicki said, when I told her I was going back to school. “Well, we will just have to pray for super human strength for you Kristina. It won’t be easy, and some days you’ll just want to cry, but with God, we’ll get ya through, and you will graduate this time!” Yep, I would just pray and keep going; I had to.
Warrior Moms, may your coffee this morning be as bold as your faith and may your cup of faith runneth over more so than your eyes do with tears.
Love,
Kristina
GREAT, IT’S ONLY 6:09 AM, AND I ALREADY WANT TO CRY IN MY COFFEE!
Great, it’s only 6:09 am
And I already feel like crying
Again
I’m tired I’m exhausted
This morning has been rough
What will I do if the rest of this day
Is this tough
I feel like crying in my coffee
Cup
But with a tear stained face I’ll look like a
whupped pup
I did my makeup like
Tammie Faye
And I can’t go around with no disguise
Today
I covered the dark circles with a little foundation
And put some blush on my cheeks
And now if I cry I’ll just have mascara
Streaks
Lord though I’m so very tired
pick your strongest angel and say to him
You’re hired
Assignment Kristina has called up again
It seems today
She needs a friend
Give her some help along the way
Cause it’s only 6:09 am
And she’s about to cry
In her coffee again
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.
Mark 14:23
…….Do you think it was full of coffee?
Kristina Seymour loves to encourage and equip women through the Word and through community. She is the author of The Warrior Mom Handbook, The Warrior Mom Leadership Manual, and The Warrior Wife Handbook; they are available at Amazon.com. Kristina's Bible studies are for women who desire to live by faith in the midst of their everyday lives. She has learned that women can't survive on caffeine and animal crackers alone; women in the Word and in community are united and able to stand firm. To learn more about Kristina, please visit her website, https://kristinaseymour.com/. God loves to share His story of love and grace through us all, and Kristina believes that everyone has a story to tell.