waiting....

Sweet Mariah.

Poor, sweet, toothless Mariah.

(is she primed for tickling in this pose or what!)

Friday night, her little friend from school called and asked if she wanted to go to Sea World with her and her family.

Mariah was thrilled!

"Thrilled" doesn't even seem like the right word, but it's the best I can come up with. Her face lit up brighter than Christmas morning, as she begged me if she could go.

I, however, spent an entire hour sitting & staring into space,

anxiously debating wether we should let her go or not. We don't know the parents very much at all, and sea world? I hardly trust myself to keep track of my own kids at places like that!

In my mind I saw the headlines: "sweet little girl with a passion for ham...missing from Sea World, what was her mother thinking???"

But after an hour of going through all those headlines and living the fear as if it had actually happened, I talked to the girl's mother for a bit and I didn't get any horrible sinking feelings, so me & Jesse decided she could go.

(Aside from the fear and anxiety, the conversation between Jesse & I was pretty funny. I kept worrying about whether to entrust these people with my precious middle child....Jesse kept fretting over the money we'd have to send with her.) =)

We told her we decided she could go, and now she was beyond thrilled!

But then I moved on to the next item(s) to worry about.

Where are our passes?

Should we drive down to SeaWorld right now and have them print new ones?

How much money do I send?

What should she wear? Shorts? Pants? It's been hot, but it's usually chilly down there.

Do I send a bathing suit? There's water rides.

What if her feet get tired and she complains after a few hours?

What if the sunscreen wears off after 2 hours and she gets burnt to a crisp?

What if what if what if.

Well, we found the passes.

The mom said they would be having a picnic, so not to worry about money or food. I decided I'd send a $20 bill with her just in case. (Jesse cringed)

I decided to put her in a bathing suit, with shorts and a t-shirt over it. And a small backpack containing a change of clothes (pants, long sleeve shirt, undies, and jacket). I figured even if they kept it in the car, at least she'd have it. We'd spray her down with sunscreen (spf 50!) and send the bottle with her in her backpack.

So we were set! And she couldn't have been more excited.

Then Friday at 9:00 the mother called to say that her other daughter still had a cough so they weren't going to go Saturday, they'd go Sunday instead. I said that'd be fine. At least I'd have another 24 hours to find more things to worry about. :o)

Mariah was asleep and I tried to wake her and tell her but she was out cold.

So when she woke up at 6:00 ready to get dressed, I told her.

She was dissappointed, but ok.

Then came Sunday.

Again, up at 6:00 am.

Swimsuit on. Sunscreen on. Cute lil shorts and t-shirt on. Bag packed. Bright ribbons in hair (so in case she wandered away, the parents could spot her fairly easily....like luggage in the airport!). Phone number memorized and repeated, no talking to strangers rule understood. Refresher course in manners completed. "YOU'RE NOT MY MOMMY!!!" scream, as well as when to use it, practiced and perfected.

Pre-event pictures taken:

And from then, for the next hour, this little girl sat on the couch and stared out the window.

But no one came.

Mariah called them but no one was there so she left a message.

(sweet wee little voice):

"Hi, it's me Mariah....I just wanted to know if we were still going to seaworld....I'm all dressed and ready. Bye."

So sad.

By 1:00 even Mariah was convinced that it wasn't going to happen. And then the tears came.

Poor sweet girl.

I don't begrudge the parents, since we don't know what happened. It even could have been a misunderstanding I suppose. But I still felt so bad for Mariah.

So we dried her tears, took off the shorts & t-shirt, and went outside to play in the sprinklers in our bathing suits. And her sad day turned happy. :o) Hallelujah.