Mommy - Cheryle M. Touchton - The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Phil 4:13 KJV
“Bob, where is my projector?” Mommy said into her ear bud. She must not have liked the answer. “But you wouldn’t have put it there. You knew I needed it and I can’t lower the spare tire. Even if I could, I can’t get it back up. Besides, the pin won’t ever come out for me.”
The back door was open and I stood on the seat with my head out the back window for moral support. I barked at the French Poodle across the street because I knew Mommy didn’t need company. She starts out thinking she can’t do things and by the time Daddy talks her through it, she gets it done. I know the Bible says she can do all things through Christ who strengthens her but for Mommy, I think it takes Christ and Daddy.
“Bob, I have on white pants. If you oiled the pin, I’m going to get dirty.”
Even I could guess what Daddy said next. Mommy ignored Daddy’s idea to change clothes and tugged on the pin. Of course, it popped right out.
“The pin is out and my hands are dirty. I’ll never lower the spare tire. It’s too heavy”
Poor Daddy. He can’t see Mommy but she had it lowered before she stopped whining about it.
“Those boxes of books are too heavy. I can’t lift them over the seat,” Mommy said as she pulled, grunted, and hoisted them at me.
I backed up none too soon as they plopped right where I’d been standing. Some books went crashing to the ground, knocking the phone from the back bumper to the ground.
“Shoot,” Mommy said. “Now I’ve dropped books everywhere.”
Daddy only slept 4 hours the night before and I knew his blood pressure was rising. He gets upset when Mommy messes up books. Mommy left the phone on the ground and picked up the books. They were fine.
“I found 2 boxes of books and the projector. I might as well put the camp chair back inside while I’m here. Which end of the chair goes in the bag first?”
Why does Mommy do that? She puts that chair in the bag all the time when Daddy isn’t here. OK – I’ll admit that she sometimes starts out backwards but she gets it in there. She folded up the camp table and put it behind the front seat. She pulled my leash stake out of the ground, twirled the leash around it, and put it under my seat.
“I’ll never get the tire back up,” Mommy wailed as she started lifting. “No, I’m not going to go find a man to do it for me. What do you mean use leverage? I don’t even know what leverage is and if I did, it probably involves getting my white pants dirty.” In a second, she had the tire back up, the pin back in, and her pants were still white.
“Hey, Bob,” Mommy said. “I found the Fresnel lens for the back window. It had fallen inside the back of the camper. I’ve been having trouble backing up. How does it go on?”
She listened, sighed, and said, “You know if you were here, you’d be doing all of this.” Of course he would. Daddy would rather do it than tell Mommy how to do it.
She went in the camper and got a bottle of water, a sponge, and some glass cleaner. She cleaned the window and the lens. Daddy talked her through rest. She poured water on the lens, slapped the lens on the window, and started mashing the lens to get the bubbles out. I’ve seen Daddy do this before and it took him seconds. It took Mommy 10 minutes but she did it.
Next, she went to the front of the camper and stared at the my seat. We’d been parked for days so Mommy had turned it around to sit and work. We were leaving early the next morning and I was glad Mommy was doing it now.
“I’ve never turned this front seat back around. I hope I can do it,” she said as she whipped it around and popped it into place. She went to the back of the camper and lugged all the boxes of books to the front seat floorboard. She stepped back and looked at it.
“I think if I slam on brakes, these boxes are going to crush Belle.” She listened to Daddy. “Yes, the boxes are taller than the seat. Yes, the bottom of the top box is higher than the seat.” She frowned and listened again. She took out the boxes and rearranged them the way Daddy said. I felt much better.
“Now I can’t find my phone,” Mommy said, looking everywhere. Boy did I wish I could talk. I went to the back and barked but she thought I was barking at the poodle again.
“Yes, I’m still talking on the ear bud. It can’t be far.” I relaxed when Mommy found it on the ground.
“Bob, my life is hard. I don’t know how you stand staying on the phone while I do all of this. I don’t work this hard at home.”
She’s right about that. At home, she has to go to a gym to get exercise.
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Cheryle M. Touchton is the Director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries. For more information or to schedule a speaker for an event, go to www.pocketfullofchange.org or call Gail Golden at 904 316-5462.
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