Have You?

Have you ever been outside, just before supper, when the day is cooling off?  Have you waited for your husband to come home from work while watching your kids ride bikes in the driveway?  Have you ever watched them play, feeling incredibly lucky to have them?

I have.

Have you ever taken a minute to grab the garden hose and water some new spots of grass you've planted on your lawn?  While watering, have you looked around casually, glancing at the neighbor's new bushes or watching the neighbor kids play in their yard?  

I have.

Have you ever turned back toward your own driveway, only to find that your own two children are no longer riding their bikes?  Have you literally felt your heart stop for a minute, and called out their names?

I have.

Have you dropped the hose, and began walking quickly around the area to find them?  Have you continued to call out their names, sounding more frantic with each call?

I have.

Have you ever visualized the dreaded newspaper headlines in your head: Irresponsible Mom Loses Children While Watering Grass? 

I have.

Have you continued your search, calling their names louder and louder, now running into the house, searching every room?  Have you played out the dreaded phone call to your husband in your head?

I have.

Have you suddenly flashed on the fact that your children recently have a desire to play in your vehicle, unbuckled, wandering from seat to seat, trying on each seatbelt?  Have you remembered that though you are now taking the keys out of your car parked in the garage due to this recent desire, you forgot to lock the vehicle's doors after returning home from the store?

I have.

Have you quickly run to your vehicle and thrown open the door, relieved to immediately hear your children's voices?

I have.

Have you found your children, each with pink sparkly lipgloss smeared from chin to nose and out to each cheekbone, holding the sticks of lipgloss you keep in the center compartment of your vehicle?

I have.