This story is a tad longer, but there is a point.  Just stick with me I promise you’ll get a chuckle or two….

Yesterday Chris and I accompanied Charlie while he purchased his new to him car. My purpose was to walk Charlie through the steps of the business transactions.  I tell him what to say, he says it, sounds goods, which then- makes him look good.  My purpose as a parent has been validated and all is happy.

Before we go to buy the car Charlie has to get the money from the bank.  I ask, “Do you want me or Chris to go in with you.”  The brothers look at me, stopped to look at each other and returned their gazes simultaneously back to me and laughed a hearty laughter that I had only read about in British novels.  “Mom,” Charlie says, “Chris is stronger than you and would be more likely to guard me in this circumstance.”  Really?  I just let it go and cleaned out my purse while waiting for them.  (How on earth can a person accumulate so many receipts?)

To celebrate this milestone in Charlie’s life we did what any person from Arizona would do.  We went to Taco Bell! And while we waited for our food Chris remembered an incident that happened a long, long time ago.  “Hey Mom, Do you remember when you through the McDonald’s french fries out the car window?”

This incident was a defining moment in our household.  I never would forget it.  Chris was 8 and Charlie was 6. Usually after school we’d stop at McDonald’s and get a snack: a cone or apple pie or whatever.  On this particular day we decided to get drinks and share an order of super size fries.  McDonald’s is a mile from our house and they would still be warm when we got home.  I don’t know what possessed me to let the boys eat a couple fries in the car on the way home, but I did and havoc ensued.  My babies started fighting over the fries.

I am a kumbiah, let’s show love, all the time kind of mom.  Conflict is not a word I like to use or address unless we’re talking about literature.  So I lost it!  I snatched that bag out their hands and threw the fries out the window.  We were one block away from our house.  The boys were stunned stupid. I don’t want to entertain the thought of the neighbor’s reactions.  Charlie just sat there in shock and Chris the speaker of the children whined, “Why did you do that?”

I went on a rant.  With desperation never heard I said, “You two are brothers and if anything happens to me you are all you have.  I can’t have you fighting I would rather have you angry with me than be mad at each other!”

By now we were at the house and they were angry with me.  Taking their sodas in the house they didn’t say much for the next 5 minutes. And life went on.

So, when Chris recalled the story I recalled the moral.  See you two still get along and don’t fight.  Wasn’t it worth it?

Chris’s response was, “We don’t fight because we’re still scared of you, you’re crazy, mom.”Charlie nodded in agreement.

What!?  Thirty minutes ago I couldn’t save them from a bank robber.