Tae Kwon Do

I don't think I mentioned that we all moved up a notch in our Tae Kwon Do class. Ben, Kerry, and I all earned our orange belts. Katie and Emily each earned a yellow belt. Yee-ha!

Tonight we were getting ready to head out. Ben was out playing in the neighborhood with friends and forgot we had Tae Kwon Do. He's supposed to be home by 4:00 on the nights we have to go into town because we leave the house at 4:30. When 4:15 rolled around, I realized he had probably forgotten.

Emily said, "Maybe I should go look for him."

Our neighborhood is very small and that sounded like a good idea to me. She could canvas the entire neighborhood on her bike in a matter of minutes.

I ran back to my room to get changed into my uniform. Just as I emerged back into the living room, here came Ben.

"I forgot we had Tae Kwon Do!" He rushed to his room to change.

"Did Emily tell you to come home?" I asked when he raced back in.

"No, I just looked at my watch, and it popped into my head. I didn't see Emily."

"Well, she went out looking for you. She'll be back in a minute."

So we gather our belts, and..........no Emily.

We all walk down to the car, thinking she will show up any minute. No Emily.

Finally, with time running out, we decide to drive around the neighborhood and look for her. I decide I'd better wait at the house by the street, because if Kerry misses her, and she comes back to the house and the car is gone and we aren't here, she will freak.

So I stand by the side of the road, waiting. And I wait. And I see the car pass by between two houses on the next street over. And I wait. And I see the car pass between two houses two streets over. And I wait. And I can't see the car anymore. And I think, "Surely she would think to come home by now! Doesn't she realize Ben could have come home, and she needs to get back to the house?!?!?"

I'm torn between irritation and worry. I always start out being aggravated, then I think "What if something bad happened to her" and I know I will feel guilty if I was mad at them and it turned out they were injured or kidnapped. So I got myself into a nice frame of mind over it. And I knew when she showed back up, I would have to be fairly pleasant about it, or she would get upset, and then she'd probably cry during Tae Kwon Do. Not fun.

Finally, Kerry pulls back up in front of me.....no Emily in the car. He jumps out and points out that her bike is still parked under the stairs. Oh no. Did she go around the neighborhood on foot?

Then Ben leans out of the car. "Did anyone check in the house?"

"No, I never saw her come back." But I go running in the house just to make sure before we panic.

"EEEEEEmmmmmilllyyyyyyyy," I screech as I run in the back door.

"Yes ma'am?" I hear from the depths of the house.

"Where are you?!?! We've been riding around the neighborhood looking for you!"

"I was in my room," she replies, chewing on a carrot.

We run to the car, (I'm laughing because if I get mad, she'll cry), and I tell her as we are running, how we have been looking for her.

We get in the car and Kerry looks like he could spit nails, but I laugh and smile at him so he chills out. We can fuss after class is over.

And yes, we were late to Tae Kwon Do.

But we had on pretty colored belts when we finally got there.