To The Rescue!

We have been having some wonderful weather here lately, bright, sunny warm fall days. We decided it 's way too nice to be inside so we headed off to the park to meet some friends. Matt was riding his big two wheeler bike (with his training wheels that are too far off the ground, so they rarely touch the pavement anyway), and I was jogging along beside him. We had been there about half an hour when Matt came screaming towards me absolutely bawling his head off. He had his first bee (wasp) sting. It got him right on his neck and started to swell up pretty much right away. Poor guy.

We decided we needed ice cream therapy, so my friend Desiree put her two kids in her nice big double stroller and I coaxed Matt back onto his bike. Thank goodness we didn't have far to go, every time Matt moved his neck the sting would start to burn again, he would bawl, close his eyes and swerve all over the road like car bait!! We made it to the rec centre and the ice cream place was CLOSED! Figures. So, we left the bike there and headed to 7-11 for a slurpee (by this time some sort of treat was needed by everyone involved). We accomplished our mission and just had the kids settled on the grass outside the rec centre with their slurpees when I spotted the Purolator truck at the church. Everyone who lives in Mackenzie knows that Andy Barnes, the pastor of our church, drives the Purolator truck. Yay! Desiree sees me eyeing it up and reads my mind, "I have no idea how else you're going to get Matthew home. There's no way he's going to ride his bike all that way, and you'll have nothing but a battle on your hands if you push the bike and try to make him walk. I'll stay with the kids - you run and ask Andy for a ride." What a good friend.

Off to the church I go. I tell Andy our tragic tale and he smiles kindly, "Let's go."

Once back at the slurpee picnic I pick up Matt's helmet and tell him that Mr. Barnes will drive us home in his big van. Matt has been having some trouble with the whole Mr. /Mrs. concept this summer. He calls both men and women Mrs. Probably because most of the adults he's around just happen to be the moms.

He looks up at me and says "Mrs. Barnes?" (Mrs. Barnes is Matt's pre-school teacher).

"No, honey, Mr. Barnes. Remember how the girls are Mrs. and the boys are Mr?"

Moments later we are home safe and sound, Andy is unloading Matt's bike from the back of the Purolator van and Matt smiles at him and says loud and clear, " Thank you Mrs. Barnes the boy one!"

So, after that whole big long saga, THANK YOU Mr. Barnes for saving the day!

And for the rest of us, ice cream really does make everything better.