Every
summer since my kids were born, we’ve live at a lake, in the middle of nowhere
from June through September. It’s where they
really consider home.
Weekends
were filled with family, friends and crazy times. When Sunday evening arrived,
everything perfectly stilled and the next five days simply became moms and
kids on the lookout for the next great adventure.
We
discovered one, as some close friends were moving out of their fancy spread
across the lake and, coincidentally, a dumpster appeared in their driveway
right about that time. Always subscribing to the theory “One man’s junk is
another’s treasure”, it was catnip to us.
At
issue was the height of the dumpster… too tall to get a glimpse inside and no
ladder in the vicinity. Deciding the best way to know what it contained was for
someone to pop inside and take a look.
Assessing
our options for scaling the side, we had two 8-year-old girlie cousins and my almost
6-year-old wannabe tough guy who wasn’t the biggest risk taker in the world.
Where was my feisty daughter when we needed her? Summer camp?
We
huddle up for a plan. “Matt, you’re going in.“ “Ok???” he said with a large
dose of hesitation mixed with fright. “Take a look around. Give a shout and we’ll pull
you out”.
Who
does this to their kid?
After
2-3 minutes, he screams. “A Beeeeeee!!!! IT BIT ME!!!”
Fortunate
for us (NOT), the next day we visited the pediatrician for Matt’s yearly check up. Giving
him a pep talk before entering the office to ensure we were on the same page
about his very swollen, bee bitten fat lip, we discussed the meaning of the
word “confidence”. Between you and me, pal, “Got it!”
Dr.
Froelich: “Matthew, what on earth happened to your lip?” “My mom and my aunt
made me dumpster dive and I got bitten by a bee.”
Where's a good hole to crawl in when you need one?
43 comments:
Gian,
Oh, no! great story! but poor little guy!
I was at a child's birthday party with my younger son (age 4 at the time) and the birthday kid played a mean joke on some of the kids (including my son) and locked them in a dark closet. I was in the kitchen with other moms so I was oblivious. The birthday mom finally heard the screaming and got them out.
Yep, this is how the story was re-told by my son later to anyone who would listen: "So I was locked in this closet, and I was so scared, and no matter how much I screamed, Mommy would not let me out!"
Good memories.
best,
MOV
ps-- did you get anything good for your Dumpster diving???
oops, I know your name is Gina, I was typing too fast.
Your story was fantastic. Of course it was told that way! Love it.
I wasn't trying to get Matt to fib. I just wanted him to leave it at "a bee bit me". Back then and even now, you really can't tell him much. No filter, everything, every secret comes out (he never knows about any surprises ahead of time either because he will blow them!)
Yes!!! We got a few cool, big picture frames, a lamp and a fun desk. So worth making him do that!
And I know you know my name.
I'm giggling at both your stories because of course that's how they tell it. My younger daughter was playing alone in her room, climbing on the end of the bunk bed where she'd been told plenty of times not to climb. Her arm got stuck. It took a bit of twisting and turning to get it out (she'd turned and tried to do it herself and it twisted, she got scared, etc.), but I did disentangle her. The way she told it when asked about the bruise: mommy pulled me out of the bed so hard she almost broke my arm.
Poor little guy with such unkind folk! I hope the doctor had a sense of humour. :)
Aww, poor little guy! And he even managed to get all those things! I'm sure he eventually grasped what 'confidence' means, just not when you needed it =)
This made me laugh really hard because, of course, I can just hear it now! Bad mommy!!!
She did. She just raised her eyebrows and held up my hands.
But she was in trouble too. She walked into the room and said, "Well aren't you just a brown bear." (He gets super golden tan with blond hair blue eyes.) He looked at her completely shocked and said, "I am NOT a brown bear!" It was a pretty funny visit all around.
He spied those things in there as he was climbing out. We brought back a ladder and got in ourselves to hoist the treasures.
He still struggles with the term "confidence". Much too exuberant for his own good at times.
Those are always the best stories, you couldn't make it up. You sound like you have a blast at the lakes, good times. Yaya Sisterhood...
No, you couldn't make it up and there are hundreds more of them just like it. We would make simple fun out of the smallest things. It was yaya-like. We sort of group parented, ate, played, just hung out.
AND it's right around now! AND the kids have full time jobs there. Woo Hoo!
That is hilarious. Kids do say the darndest things, don't they? My first Trifecta, I'm enjoying all you crazy peeps!
Yes they do!!!
It can get nuts on certain blogs. Enjoy! I will come over and read yours.
That is really fun! My kids have done stuff like that. Terrible at the time, but you really can look back and laugh. :)
Absolutely! There are more funny times than there are Trifecta prompts. Thanks for enjoying!!!
Oh my, there is no way to spin that where it sounds good! I cracked up at the dumpster being catnip to you. Why don't they just save the trouble and make those dumpsters with windows, anyway?
I've found that the mere suggestion to my kids that they omit something from a story will guarantee it's the first thing they blurt out.
Janna,
That is just brilliant!!! Dumpsters should have windows, however small they needed to be for disposal purposes. Certainly, one boy might have been spared some discomfort!
You are so right about the omissions. I just don't tell him a thing. He lives in his own little world of oblivion because he's only on a "need to know basis" with the family!
Hilarious - I like the idea of windows in the dumpster.
It was a funny day. Couldn't help but laugh at the whole thing.
This dumpster was on "prime" real estate so it was particularly enticing and it called out to us by name so we had to get inside ;-) We are choosy and wouldn't just DD into just random ones...hence the need for windows.
Oh, the things we'll do but don't want anyone to know we do! I remember coaching my son not to feed the dog leftovers from his dinner plate if we had guests. If it was just us, it was fine. Don't want people to know how we really live. Wonder how our guests fed their dog?
haha! i love it. i have been attempting to line up an interview with a couple of veteran dumpster divers for a post, as a matter of fact. great minds, you know... i love the doctor's reaction, and yours. one of the best parenting stories i've come across, with an engaging storyline and humor. everyone wants to know what we're going to find in a dumpster. it's like the show storage wars or pawn stars.
We all have our little things, don't we?
I would for sure like to read an article about "master" dumpster divers! Yes, she's great, the doctor. We've known her for years.
Thanks for liking my story and I find dumpsters intriguing. Kind of...it must be the mystery!
"Matt, you're going in!" As though you're infiltrating an enemy camp. Love it. Sorry he gave you up ... even though it made the story.
Thanks, Gal! I'm pretty used to it with him. The truth and the facts just fall out of his mouth which is very good, I might add.
Oh, no! I'm not sure I understood the concept of something being in confidence at that age either, but how (hilariously) embarrassing!
It was worth a try explaining it to him in order to spare some embarrassment I may/definitely was feeling. I was a little panicked!
Oh no! That's a bummer he got bit. What's the best thing you've got from your Dumpster Diving?
Yep! Right on the upper lip and it became very swollen.
Two real big 2X3 foot-ish frames, very cool and a great desk and lamp.
Ha! The last line really sums it all up nicely. Where is that darn hole anyway? I've never been dumpster diving but if I could find something cool, I'd risk the bee sting. Well done!
I, occasionally, need that hole to be in a convenient spot for needy times!
I probably would have endured 3 stings as payment for the loot we retrieved. Still look at the stuff today so the value of one bee string was pretty great. I should ask Matt if he remembers this....
Thanks for linking up with another hilarious story. I hope you've got weeks and weeks more of them tucked away. Nice work for the kid, taking one for the team. :-) Hope to see you back again soon.
Looks like we will have to be very creative with this next one!!! Have to figure out a story involving three. Might just have to pull out another lake story since they are plentiful.
Oh LORD -- but the real question ... did you get any good swag!? Poor Matt. We used to go dumpster diving. As a kid, I was humiliated. As an adult? I found the kitchen table that still remains in our possession. It's been ours for over a decade now.
Still have the two awesome 2'X3' really cool picture frames (framing really special pictures), a lamp and a desk that's in my bedroom. Love that you still have the kitchen table. Makes for a great story, doesn't it?
My kids love flea markets now but we haven't DD together in a very long time. Rumor has it they did last summer and I saw their loot from a yacht club that was being torn down. Just can't take the diving out of them!
Matt survived to do it all again!
I'm here for the first time through the Tues Archive Link-Up. Your post totally cracked me up ... and kept going through the comments! I have to say - if that was me as a kid and I was tossed into the dumpster, once on the other side, I would have discovered I was too far down with nobody on that side to give me a boost and couldn't get out again. ;)
LOL!!!!!!!! Gina I can't tell you how many times I have said, "We don't have to tell daddy" and that will be the first thing out of Christopher's mouth. He will even go as far to preface it with, "Dad I don't need to tell you this but....." So was there anything good in the dumpster?
Oh heavens - hilarious!
He "could have" left that little morsel of information out, right?
I hear there was a dumpster available, lol!
Thanks so much for your visit during my hiatus! I'm so happy you found it funny. And the comments cracked me up too. He was a rather hearty little boy. Certainly wouldn't have sent him in for a task that was over his head ;-)
The minute I would mention that maybe something shouldn't be repeated, it was out of this kid's mouth. This was the dumpster of a VERY well off family! There was tons of stuff!
Yes, he could have but didn't. Slightly embarrassed, for sure but it was true!
I'll keep you informed if such a high caliber dumpster is found yet again!
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