I spent about an hour going through the steps of setting up the wires as I planned it up and all went well. However "that kicker" (the remote control transmitter) wasn't working and I was losing my mind - it made absolutely NO sense. Oh and it probably didn't help that it was bedtime for the kids and my stress level was impacting the entire family. Julie pleaded with me to stop and wait for the kids to go to bed - and while my mind was running a mile a minute, I knew that I had no choice but to pause.
After a 25 minute show, I looked at Julie and asked if she would take the kids up and she laughed while saying, "I think you need to so that you clear your head." Again, she was right and I begrudgingly headed up with one kid in each arm. I hurried my way through the routine, quick dabs of toothpaste on the toothbrushes, a request for going pee before getting into bed, into one room - night-light on, CD player on (repeat on song one unless otherwise instructed), other night-light on (same room, she needs 2) - into another room - night-light on, CD player on, go back check on the progress in the bathroom and find Miles on the pot - all's good. Take the kids into my bedroom to show them the weather for the night, they like to see that it's not going to rain - done, only partly cloudy. Drop Lily off, tuck her in and on my way out she requests that I set up her CD player to repeat all - done and done. Drop Miles off, tuck him in and on my way out. Turn off the lights up stairs - Miles holler's, "Dad, I can't hear my music!" - back into his room, turned up the volume and out I went to go figure out this problem with the freaking transmitter. "Check on me millions of times" requests Lily followed by Miles, "Check on me 20" - done and done and done.
While I was removing myself from the situation of fixing the problem and TRYING to focus on putting my kids to bed, I discovered a better way to test what was wrong and sure enough I found out how to make it work. However, it entailed plugging the transmitter in behind the couch and lucky me, it's a sectional and requires taking the whole thing apart. Surprising I wasn't too affected by this notion because I saw the light of success at the end of the tunnel. As I pull two of the pieces apart, to my shock and amazement I uncover my daughters favorite stuffed animal friend - a tiny guinea pig named "Mini" who has been missing for 4 months. The biggest smile came across my face because I knew that everyone in the house would be overjoyed, especially Lily.
I put Mini on my head and walked up the stairs to "check on Lily for the 1st of my million times" and walked into her room. She says, "Hey Dad" I reply "Hey". I lay down facing her and she still didn't notice her old buddy because of the dim light in her room. I nod my head forward and Mini falls right on top of her and she squealed in confusion of what just fell on her and then when she saw who it was she giggled the most magical noise I father can ever hear. Julie came running in, curious to know what happened and when she saw Mini, I might go so far to say she was just as happy as Lily. In fact, she ran into Miles room and got him out of bed and brought him in to see who returned. She went on to say, "I told you that Mini didn't leave us Lily, I told you she was eating crumbs to stay alive, oh I just knew she was OK" - yes this is my wife talking about an inanimate object but in all seriousness, we all love Mini. As I walked out of the room, Julie was grabbing the phone and called her brother to tell him the news. It was a great night indeed.
When I got back down stairs, I saw my project was right where I left it and it no longer consumed me or mattered all that much. I found Mini. I couldn't help but feel like this whole thing was a set up by God to remind me of my narrow-mindedness and how if I focus on the wrong things, I might miss the magic in the weeds.
Thank you God for making this one easy and give me the strength to do better next time and thanks for Mini.
DD
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