Keeping Promises...

Growing up, my dad would always say, "I don't make promises."  This way, he reasoned, he would never be in a position to break them.

For weeks now, Tungsten has been asking me to take her to my office.

We had settled on this morning.

It was only going to be 90-100 minutes. I had books, crayons, snacks ready for her. We were all set.

And here's the lesson....when you see a warning sign, acknowledge it, don't dismiss it.

The first one came when Tungsten got up three times during the night saying she was unable to sleep.

Next, I had to wake her up (never a good idea on a non-school day) just so I could take her to the office with me.

She was sluggish, a bit whiny, definitely tired, and not her jovial self.

Since I had told her I would bring her (I didn't promise), I really wanted to live up to that idea. I thought it would be a special bonding moment for us.

As we got close to my office, she said, "My tummy hurts. I think I might throw up."

She hadn't had breakfast yet, so I thought maybe she was just hungry (and since she's only thrown up once in her life, I was skeptical she knew the feeling.)

I said out loud "Maybe I should just take you to Nanny's [my mom's] house."

Then she said, "I am going to rest for a few minutes," and she closed her eyes.

Neither of us displayed good judgement and we went on.

Walking across the lot of my office garage, she put her hand to her mouth...as if to hold something in.

That was the last straw.

I put her right back in the car, drove her to my mom's and put her in bed there.

I had so wanted to give her the experience of coming to work with me, that I blindly pushed on.

My loyalty to my daughter and our bonding may be admirable, but it clouded sound judgment. I hate to disappoint her, but that's part of life, I suppose, isn't it?