Worst Mom....EVER!!!

I'm not sure exactly why I am choosing to do this post. It isn't a fun or pretty one, in fact, it is down right embarrassing and mortifying. A little sad too. I am hoping that I am not the only mom that has done what I did. I am also hoping that if you have done something similar, you will let me know, so I don't feel like I really am the worst Mom ever. But if you don't comment, then I guess I will know, I made a really HUGE mistake. And, just so you know, I will NEVER do this again....

Any of you that know my little Teague know that he is not of the shy sort. You also know that he was blessed with "The Hyde voice." This is not always a bad thing. He is a very rambunctious five year old, always running, jumping, hollering, doing little boy things. Teague, however knows when to calm down, when to be quiet, good and respectful and all that, but sometimes he still does it at church. That's okay.

So, yesterday Aaron, Teague, Grammie Annie and I were watching Piper's last performance at Kingsbury Hall. When it was over, I told them that I was going downstairs to the dressing room to help Piper change out of her costume so she could hurry upstairs and talk to Grammie. As I was walking away, Teague said to me, "I wanna go with you!" So, I reluctantly said, "Okay, but if you come with me, you have to stay close to me, you have to be good, listen and not bug the girls!" So, he came.

We went down into the dressing room, I helped Piper change and she ran upstairs to the lobby to talk to Grammie. Since it was the last performance, I made sure that the dressing room was cleaned up. I gathered all of Piper's stuff and put it in her rehearsal bag. I put her costume on in the hangers and in the garment bag and put it on the the big rack out in the hall. Then, I ran upstairs and cleaned up the girls mess that they had made backstage, they had paper, pens, markers etc. to keep themselves entertained while they were offstage. This probably took about 15 - 20 minutes total. Then I went out into the lobby and started talking with Aaron and Grammie, we talked for awhile, five minutes at least. Then I noticed that Teague wasn't with us, I looked at Aaron and said, "Where's Teague?" Aaron said, "I don't know, he was with you!"

I totally forgot Teague! I didn't even remember he was with me until Aaron said so! I handed all of the stuff (purse, rehearsal bag, bag of pens, notebooks, book etc.) that I was holding to Aaron, looked at Piper and said, "Hurry, let's go back down to the dressing room!" Piper took off like a bullet, I was right behind her. We went through the Theatre, down all the flights of stairs and as we started going down the long hallway, we saw a cast member and her Grandma, I ask them, "Is Teague still in the dressing room?" In unison, they said, "yes." Piper, again, took off like a bullet, I wasn't so fast this time, because I knew he was in the dressing room. Suddenly I heard a blood curdling scream, "He's not here! Teague, Teague, Teague, Mom! He's gone, he's not here!" I went into the dressing room and the lights were out and Piper was sobbing, continuing to tell me he was gone. I went into the locker room that is connected to the dressing room while yelling his name. Piper was also screaming his name, he was not there. He was not in the dressing room or the locker room, the green room or the long hall that runs the other direction. He was not in any of the other dressing rooms or the rehearsal hall. Nor was he in any of the restrooms or other rooms on that floor.

Trying to gain my composure while calculating in my head how long it had been since I left the dressing room (awhile), I said to Piper, "Let's find him!" Piper, still sobbing said, "Okay!" We went out into the long hall, the stage manager was there, I ask her if she had seen Teague, she said no. I ask her if she could say something over the intercom, right then, I think she realized that he really was missing, she took off like Piper did (a bullet), up the stairs and onto the stage, Piper and I following closely behind. She had picked up the microphone when Jordan, another cast member, saw me and said, "I have Teague!"

My heart sank and I ran over to her and she was watching Teague play on the grass outside. Piper was close behind me trying to compose herself. I gave Teague a huge hug and he looked at me and said, "I was worried about you."

My little Teague was being SO good in the dressing room! He was sitting on a chair, being quiet and not bugging the girls. He wasn't even snapping (which, by the way, he is great at and does often...with both hands), humming, singing or kicking the chair. He had actually, for once, listened to his mom! He was being so good, so good in fact, that I forgot about him! How in the world could I forget about Teague?

This little experience has taught me something, well, I already knew it, I just had to be reminded. I am so thankful that Teague is Teague! Even though it is SO annoying sometimes, I am so thankful that he is loud, that he snaps ALL THE TIME, that he talks constantly, that he sings inappropriate words to songs....loudly...that he makes fart noises, that he stomps his feet, that he jumps, that he runs, that he growls, that he always making a noise of some sort!!! I would much rather him be this way than the opposite, because if he were the opposite, I would forget him all the time.