Rantings

After writing this, I felt like I should come back and say that I have worked with teenagers and have a very special place in my heart for them.  :)

My message to teenagers out there:

1. Don't use the gigantic handicap dressing room for your tiny self and your fifty items. Those rooms are for people who actually need it.

2. Don't laugh at a two-year-old falling down in the mall, especially when you're the one who caused it.

So I'll explain. Of course, I prefer to shop alone, but on occasion, I don't have a choice. I recently found a swimsuit for a great deal at Steinmart and had to go try it on. Since I was already going into a deep depression about trying on a swimsuit, I probably wasn't in the best frame of mind when I discovered that the only large dressing room out of AT LEAST 20 dressing rooms was occupied by a teenage girl. Really? Why do you need this lone, huge room?? I had to wait about five minutes on her (and I'm not exaggerating), because my three children and I could not even fit in the other tiny rooms, not to mention the giant double stroller I had in tow. Another issue... why do they leave a two foot opening on the bottom of some dressing rooms? Have you ever tried keeping a 15 month old from going into the next room?! So annoying! So there's that.

On to the next point. On a recent trip to the mall , we somehow got in between a group of teenagers. There were five or six girls in front of us, and then one girl and guy behind us. Apparnetly, they were trying to catch up with their friends, and the guy started stomping really loudly as he moved right up behind us. I'm sure he was just doing it to be funny with his friends, but I could tell it was making Emerson (my almost three-year-old) very nervous. She turned her head back to see what was coming at her as she started walking faster to get out of the way. Well, in doing this, she totally bit it and splatted on the ground. It was a bad fall. And it was loud. But the girl and guy just started laughing loudly and kept looking at her as they passed us. And it wasnt like a quick giggle that escaped before they realized it was probalby rude to laugh at the poor kid that they just made fall down. It was like loud, mocking laughter as they passed and then again as they caught up to their friends. And mama bear's claws almost came out. It took every bit of Jesus in me not to say something to these kids. But how rude! You don't mock my baby girl! I get that it can be amusing to watch people fall down. I've laughed at that hundreds of times watching America's Funniest Home Videos or whatever, but the way this all went down just really got under my skin. Emerson was completely fine. She got back up, shook it off, and handled things like a champ. I decided to take a lesson from her and not cry or yell at someone over it (not that I would ever really do that, but I sure wanted to)!