more trouble than it's worth...

This afternoon I picked my nephews up from school. After they buckled themselves in I slowly, very slowly [there are $350 fines these days for school zone speeding...] headed down Jefferson to take them home. Since I was going at a crawl I had plenty of time to observe a young mother try to orchestrate the departure of her 3 children on what probably began as a wonderful idea but in my estimation had quickly descended into a rather hellish "event". She had a preschooler on a tricycle, complete with helmet, screaming at the top of her little lungs and refusing to release her death grip on the handlebars of her older sister's bicycle. The mother was using one hand to forcefully separate the two while keeping her other hand on the handle of a stroller occupied by a toddler. Mind you, it was like 150 degrees outside at 3:10 pm today and as the heat was getting to me, I can only imagine how it must have been getting to her, especially since she, by gifts of my deductive reasoning abilities, must have already walked to school to meet her daughter in the first place. All I could think when I drove past was that it had to be a lot more trouble than it was worth. I also managed a smile at the possibility that my Father has repeatedly created little adventures for me to enjoy and by reasons I'll never know, I invariably end up making what should have been a simple "bike ride" intended to bring me pleasure, turn into a hellish "event" and I wondered if He shakes his head and thinks me more trouble than I'm worth. Trust me, He's more than entitled. Thankfully, He keeps trying and once I let go and follow, we sail down the side walk whistling grace in the making. I prayed for her as I watched her jog to catch up with the "screamer" whose pedals outpaced her sandaled feet on the downhill slope ahead of her and remembered my mom on the very same sidewalk many moons ago, waiting to give us a ride across town on our beloved pony. And yes, she had walked him across town to do so. And yes, it was worth the trouble.