Boy Tethers

Last Saturday, we had the privilege of taking the hubbin's nephew out to several museums in our area. He's really into snakes and the Greeks, Roman, and Viking cultures, so we took him to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the MO. Conservation Discovery Center and Lakeside Nature Center in Kansas City and spent several hours walking through them. By the time, we got to the last place, my knees and legs had had it, so the guys went inside by themselves.

While I was waiting for them to come back out, I watched a young family approach our car where I was sitting. I thought of the old saying "Necessity is the Mother of All Invention" and thought of a thing I could be grateful for this week, so I quickly made a note of it in the little spiral notebook I carry in my purse.

Our preemie son was born RUSH'ing here and there! LOL! Often times he wasn't aware of where we were in relation to his own body (outta sight, outta mind) since he was too busy exploring. Daily, I had a hard time keeping up with him and near the end of the day, when the husband came home from work and sat down, I'd hand the child over to his daddy and say, "Your turn,"  while I'd go make supper. When he was young enough and could sit strapped in a stroller, I could keep an eye on him and his safety, but when he got too big for that, I thank the mother who invented the halter and handle for her own busy little boy.

My husband's parents and one sister did not like our use of the halter and leash, because they said, it made him appear as though he was "a dog." However, they did not have my experience of caring for their grandson and nephew on a day to day basis, until . . .

We attended a sport show together. Since the aisles between the vendors were too narrow, the convention advertisers asked people not to bring strollers into the show, but nothing was said about using a halter and line, so we buckled our 2 year old son into his. He could look all he wanted, but the rope only went out so far and I kept a tight grip on the handle. During the course of the evening, the grandparents wanted to take the grandson for awhile, so we handed him over and the first thing they did was to remove the halter. They said they were going to carry him, so no need for "the dog leash", and although I had misgivings, I said a little prayer as I turned to leave with my husband.

Well, when we met up with them two hours later at our rendezvous point where we agreed to meet at a certain time, they had the halter back on the child. I was surprised and must have looked it as they quickly began to explain. Grandpa was holding him, got tired, set him down for a moment to look at something, turned back a second later and the kid was gone. They spent a frantic hour looking for him. This was back in the days before cell phones or walkie-talkies for ordinary folks were common, so in their panic, they did not think to try to page us over the convention loudspeaker. They finally found him several aisles over very interested in a hawker's speech and grabbed him up, quickly buckling the halter and handle back on.

So today, I'm thankful for the halter/line, God's protection, and lessons learned! :)