By AMBER KELLER / L’Observateur / March 31, 1999

Every third weekend, when my turn rolls around to write an article, my Paw-Paw tells me, “Why don’t you write about a personal experience? People love that.” Every weekend I really do consider it, but then Irealize that I can’t remember anything that has happened during the week. This particular incident, however, is fresh on my mind. So, Paw-Paw, here it goes.

Saturday night turned into Sunday morning way too fast, as it usually does. Everyone in my family, with the exception of my mom, woke uplate. This is where the fun began. Six people, in one house, trying to getready for church in under an hour. That’s enough to stress you right there.So, all of us are flying around the house, ironing and brushing, primping and fixing, stepping over small children who keep asking for breakfast as if we have time to stop! Somehow, we do, and by 9:45 a.m. we manage todrag ourselves out of the house and into our truck. Wow, I thought, wemight actually make it to church on time.

But wait, where’s Dad? He’s still wandering around in the house. That’sgreat! So we’re sitting and waiting and waiting and sitting. All the while,every second that we’re waiting my blood is boiling just a little more. Hehas some nerve, I thought. Now we will definitely be late. Finally, aftermuch aggravation, we pull out of the driveway. By nothing short of asmall miracle, we are on our way to church.

So, we’re driving, and eventually we are near our exit. Now this isn’t sobad, we may only be about five minutes late. There’s our exit calling outour names. We see it; we get to it; and we pass it up. At this pointscreams and shrieks fill the truck. Why hadn’t we gotten off? My dadsimply answers that he accidentally missed the exit. Twelve minuteslater, after taking the “scenic route,” we arrive at church, nice and stressed out.

The service was good. It took me the full two hours to bring myself outof my aggravated state. When we left I was actually in a good mood, untilwe stopped for a burger, that is. Try to imagine six different people withsix different orders, and my dad goes through the drive-through.

What was he thinking? We were in that line for 20 minutes! We ordered and they messed it up. We ordered again, and they messed it up again.Now, my dad was aggravated, the cashier was aggravated, and after our stay in the parking lot, I swore that I would never go through another drive-through with my family as long as I lived.The moral of this story is: Life is too short to live aggravated. Littleannoyances will certainly come every day of your life. Don’t freak out.Endure, persevere and exercise some patience. James 1:4 says,”Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” When I stand before God, I certainlydon’t want to be found lacking, do you? If you have any questions or comments, write to straightkids@juno.com.or P.O. Box 1493, LaPlace, La. 70069.Back to Top

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