I can remember two "incidents" that really stand out in my mind. I was a single mother with three kids.
One time, at the KH, when my youngest son was 2.5 yrs old, he was sitting on my lap. Now....I had been attempting to train him not to get up for drinks of water during the meetings like a good little witless parent. During this particular meeting, there was a WHOLE ROW directly behind us with an elder and his family seated therein. Also, during this meeting, my youngest was facing forward and began kicking the back of the seat in front of us, so I turned him sideways on my lap. Then he began whispering that he wanted a drink of water. I told him, "No," several times and when that didn't deter him, I began swatting his leg everytime he asked to get a drink, also, telling him, "No," each time. Soon his leg was turning red, even though I had not hit him hard, just enough to emphasize that I meant what I said. Finally, he heaved a huge sigh and putting his arm around my neck, he pulled my head down to face him, looked me in the eye and said in a VERY loud stage whisper, "I said I want a drink of WATER!" This wiped out the row of elder and fam behind us. I gave up and got up to take him for that drink.
Another time, there was one week in January that almost wiped us out of field service. At least, I figured that's what the demenz were tryin' to do to us. To begin with, I had slipped on my back steps and fallen on my tail bone, which put my spine out of kilter, causing me to develop bursitis in my left hip, so I had begun using a cane. At the beginning of the week, my youngest was bitten on the left eye by a dog and I had to rush him to the emergency room. During the week, my oldest son phoned from phys ed at school to tell me he had been playing basketball barefoot in the gym and broke his toe, so off to the ER we went yet again and then we had one with a cane, one with a dog bite and one on crutches. The next day, my daughter phoned from the babysitters to tell me that she had jumped off the furniture and the arch of her foot had landed on a cup and it was broken. Off to the ER again and another one on crutches. So now we have one with a cane, one dog-bitten, and two on crutches. Then my youngest son was racing through the house, tripped over his own feet and fell over a space heater, burning his left arm, left side and left thigh. Off to the ER again. So now we were one with a cane, one dog-bitten and burn-bandaged, and two on crutches. Did this stop us from going out in field service? Nooooooooooway, though we were a sight to make yer eyes sore, I'm sure. I hate to even think about how stupid that was. We were a spectacle everywhere we went. A carload of crips.
Frannie
