I don’t know about you, but I get thrown off when people show up to my home unexpected. I may not be dressed right or have other plans and may say something I wouldn’t ordinarily say because these guests showed up and changed the course of my day. This happened Saturday morning. Joshua came into our bedroom and attacked his dad as he lay on the bed. After they tussled a bit, we had a little impromptu family time, an intimate party of sorts. We were feeling good. We were feeling free. And in these moments is when Joshua usually asks some deep question, but this day I asked a question. I wanted to know what Joshua liked about himself. He was struggling to give a list so to help him I asked what he liked about his dad, who he always calls his hero. The list was going good. Then Jezebel crashed our party.
“What do you mean that Dad ‘caused the house’? I asked, really seeking to understand. I don’t remember how he explained it in that moment, though later he said he was referring to paying the bills, but I went on to say “We both caused this house to be,” referring to how five months before Flynn and I got married we both put our money together to put the deposit on the house. But even after saying that and thinking of how great my contribution was, I didn’t realize that Jezebel had crashed the party until Flynn looked at me and didn’t say a word. “Aww, that was Jezebel, wasn’t it?” He nodded. “I wasn’t thinking about setting Joshua straight. I really wanted to know what he meant.” I apologized and asked Flynn to forgive me.
I was mad. We were having a good time and here comes Jezebel, showing up when I didn’t expect her, and that was the problem. I always have to expect her, meet her at the door and tell her that I have other plans and she is not welcome to crash them. I decide if I let her in. If I do, I must know she will be at the party cuttin’ a fool, and everyone will want to know who invited her, and I will be trying to figure out how to get rid of her. I have to be vigilant to not get caught looking like an animal facing his inevitable hunter. That’s the only way to keep Jezebel at bay and prevent her from crashing my party.
Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith