The Bells Rock!: Do your Visiting Teaching!!

Today was Eli's first day of kindergarten. What does that have to do with Visiting Teaching? Read this story and you will see.

So, today was Eli's first day of PM kindergarten. I was counting down the hours all morning and growing more nervous with each passing minute. Eli tends to have a hard time adjusting to new environments and people, so I was worried that I would have a really hard time getting him on the bus and that he would have a terrible time at school.

So, the time finally came and we all went over to the bus stop. Fortunately, Mike took his lunch at that time so he could come with us. We waited and waited and waited and finally the bus arrived. It took a long time because of all the new passengers trying to figure out what to do. Eli was not excited at all. I had to chase him down and hold his hand while walking over to the bus. He started to cry and get really upset while we waited for his turn to board the bus. Naturally, I started to get upset because I had gotten myself all worked up all day worrying about it. So, I turned to Mike, with some tears in my eyes, and asked him to help Eli onto the bus. He had to scoop Eli up and carry him onto the bus. It was the only way he would go on.

Meanwhile, Leah was crying because she wanted to go on the bus and she was worried that Daddy was going to leave. After a minute, Mike poked his head out of the bus door and said he was going to ride with Eli and that I should go pick him up at the school in a few minutes. I thought that was a good idea so I agreed. Then, the bus doors shut and it pulled away.

Here's where the craziness begins. As Leah (still crying), Noah, and I start walking back to get the keys to the car, I realize that Mike probably locked the door and that I have no way of getting in the apartment to get the keys. I check the door and find that it is indeed locked. I think, "That's no big deal. I'll just go get a spare key from the office and get in that way."

I take the kids to the office, (Leah still sad) and discover that it too is locked because the managers are in a meeting for the next 45 minutes. CRAP!! What am I supposed to do? As I'm walking back to my apartment, I try to think of all the people I know and where they live. I know a bunch of people in my ward, but I only know where 3 of them live. So, I try the first two who live in my building. They were not home, which I expected. BIGGER CRAP!! The only other person I know lives a good 5 minute, up-hill-walk away.

5 minutes, that's not a long walk, you think. Well, it is when you're holding a 25 lbs boy in one arm and holding the hand of a slow-walking 2 year-old in 90 degree, cloud free weather. So, in actuality, that walk is more like a half hour long.

I decide to start heading to that person's house because on the way, I will pass lots of ward members' houses and hopefully, I'll see someone who can help me out. Well, there was NO ONE outside at all. Fortunately, I spied a familiar minivan and decide to try knocking on the door of the person who owns that van. She's my Relief Society President. If she can't drive me to the school, maybe she can at least let me use her phone to call the school.

Fortunately, I knock on the right door and it was the Relief Society President's home. I asked her if she could drive me to the school and without even thinking about it, she says, "Yeah sure, come on in!" She grabs up her kids and I take mine and we put them in her van, which just happens to contain the right number of car seats for each child and we head off.

When we arrive, I run into the school and see Mike leaving a message on our answering machine saying that the principal of the school was going to drive him home because he realized that he locked us out. And we all live happily ever after. The End!

Wow, that was crazy. But what's the Visiting Teaching connection? Well, the ONLY reason why I recognized the minivan of the R.S. Pres is because I saw her loading her kids up into it while I was walking to a Visiting Teaching appointment. Otherwise, I would have no idea whose van that was.

So, do your Visiting Teaching and you never know how your life will be blessed!

Eli before school