When Will You Be Home?

It was a Saturday afternoon and Daddy had been working at the firm for several hours. The kids and I decided to head to the park around 4:30 and one of them called Daddy to see if he might be able to meet us there. He told them that he still had an hour left at work and wouldn't be able to go. Bummer. But we went to the park anyway and the kids had a fun time playing together for about 45 minutes.

It was then that one of my children told me they had to go potty. I started to scan for one and didn't see anything. By then it was too late and the deed had been done. So that signaled the end of playtime, and since it was already dark we piled in the mini van and headed for home. As we pulled into the driveway it was almost 6:00 and no sign of Daddy's car. The kids started in with, "Hey, Daddy said he would be home by now! Mom, why isn't Daddy home? He said he would be done in an hour!...(etc. etc.) " I hate having to be the one to answer these questions and give excuses for him, but I answered with my old standards: "something must have come up that he wasn't expecting... he'll be home soon... things usually take longer than Daddy thinks..."

I got the offending potty child in the shower and cleaned up and by then it was 6:15. I usually try to be supportive and understanding about the demands of the job, but after this experience I called up Daddy at work and said in an extremely annoyed voice, "You told the kids you would be home at 5:30. What happened?" He of course replied in a patient tone that he was doing his best to get home and just had to finish up one more thing. He then offered to pick up dinner on the way home because he is a good husband. I said with all the gruff sincerity I could muster, "That would be great." And then set to getting the rest of the children showered and tubbed before he arrived home with our bedtime dinner.

At 7:15 Daddy walked in the door with bags of tacos as the hero of the day. The kids jumped up and yelled "Daddy!" as they ran to hug him. We ate our dinner together and it turned out to be a pleasant evening after all. However, I did warn him that the next time one of the kids calls and asks what time he'll be home from work, please guess high and then add 30-60 minutes onto that guess.