I turn the ringer off on my phone when I head over to the church on Sunday morning. So I was surprised when I picked it up to check the time and discovered there was a new text message. Brother was telling us that his grandmother-in-law had died last night. He was getting ready to go tell his wife. I sent a quick text back offering condolences, and it was time for worship to begin.
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When we came to the joys and concerns, I wanted to ask for prayers for the family, and as I began to ask, I realized I hadn't had a chance to tell Daughter about the death. Oops. I apologized to her for not telling her ahead of time, and then made the prayer request. Daughter was not happy, to say the least. She left the worship service and stood out on the front porch "sobbing my eyes out," at least, that's her version of it.
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While she was on the front porch, she sent me a text message: "come outside." I didn't see it until after worship, but I find myself wondering if she actually thought I would leave the pulpit to go outside and find her. I think her grief has to do with the fact that this is a reminder of the death of her grandparents. Within a couple of hours she was fine.
I will go in with my sisters to send flowers, and wonder how much trouble I will be in if I don't go up for the funeral. I was never that close to this woman, and don't have the time for another out of state expedition this week. I find myself wondering if it's realistic to think I'm going to be able to fit in all the medical appointments I wanted to make before we leave....
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Anyway, Daughter has now sent her first text message. I don't think text messages to me count in her allowance, but I'm not going to tell her that.
3 comments:
Was your DD close to your BIL's grandmother-in-law? I'm guessing no. If not, was it another opportunity for her to try and get attention and produce some drama in which she could star? Were you supposed to leave the pulpit in the middle of the service and go funning to her crying, "Oh, my poor baby! My poor, poor bereft daughter!"
Um, that should be running, not "funning."
Brother and Sister-in-law had taken her there several times, and she has seen her in church when we've visited for the past 20 years. She doesn't like surprises, and my announcement caught her by surprise. She is still grieving her grandparents, and this was a reminder. I had avoided mentioning Dad's birthday to her, but yesterday she was talking about it and asking what date it had been. She knew it was around the beginning of August. She is looking for any excuse possible to send a text message, and she wanted me to know she was upset. She wasn't gone very long, and came back in very quietly and took her place in the pew. I had no problems with the way she handled it, and was amused that she sent me a text message during worship.
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