CONCEPTIONS - PER- AND MIS- PART FIVE

The thing about pent up emotions is that eventually they have to be released one way or another.

I was really riled up about the driving experience, but when I got to my son's house, his wife was experiencing heart palpitations so I thought it best not to say anything. My son and husband were off on some jaunt so there wasn't the opportunity to vent there, either. In any case, I kept quiet until the next morning when I laid it on my husband! I thought that would be enough. Turns out, it wasn't!

As I started to discuss the next day's activities with my son, the events of the previous day came spewing out of my mouth. Now here's where I got into trouble!

In the process of relating to him what essentially made up the previous four posts, my intent was to impress him! And I apparently did but not in the way I intended (conception/preconception/misconception)!

My intention was to convey how bravely I'd tackled the situation; how I'd boldly faced the dragon car, the monster traffic, the inscrutable expressway! All these challenges previously related--I had SURVIVED! And CONQUERED! I'd gone into battle and WON! I'd PERSEVERED and returned my precious charges unscathed--and now I was a better person for it!

As I spouted out my tale of ultimate victory I was ready for the next challenge and (quite frankly!) a bit of a pat on the back! Now I had a good feel for the lay of the land! I knew a road with the word "plain" in the name would probably lead me to some place familiar! I had a feel for the area and if they could point me in the general direction of where I needed to go next (especially if they could keep me off the demented expressways!) I would once again be able to go forth and conquer!

I was the VICTOR! I was the CONQUERER! I am WOMAN, hear me ROAR! I could do ANYTHING! So, with that in MY mind, I was ready to accept my next assignment supposing it to be another venture to another kiddieland-type of place!

But Jordan's PERception was, apparently, quite different. Instead, he must have felt the fear and trepidation (the BEFORE part of the adventure). Perhaps he felt my relating the tale was expressing a "Don't ever do that to me again!" type of feeling?! In any case, I was relegated to the kitchen table and chair to spend my day in quieter and less adventurous pursuits. Frankly, I was hurt and devastated--too hurt to say anything. Earlier in the year, I'd really messed up the relationship between myself and my daughter-in-law, and I wasn't about to contradict the edict he now handed down--that he no longer trusted me in his car without either him or his wife to drive me. I was disappointed beyond words and meekly accepted his verdict.

Which brings me to the point of this 5-part story: The PERception on the part of my son and his wife that I was a safe driver from the onset--safe enough to entrust their children and one of their friends to my care. The MISconception on their part that it was an easy task for me to find my way safely around in totally unfamiliar territory. The PREconception that I would return safely--which (as it turns out) was the only one that rang true.

And then, afterwards, everything was turned around. The MISconception that I was complaining and still rattled; the MISconception that I never wanted to do it or anything similar again.

Oh, what a tangled web we humans weave in our lack of appropriate communication! How I wish I'd been able to express my sense of accomplishment instead of it coming out as a complaint! How I wish I could have expressed a positive rather than a negative attitude!

Of course, everything turns out ok in the long run. Being relegated to the kitchen table meant interacting more closely with my granddaughters and enabled us to created beautiful necklaces and earrings. We also sorted beads and I also was able to fix (I hope permanently!) the bracelet I'd made for my daughter-in-law and an earring of Hannah's that had broken. The purpose of the trip was, after all, to drink in my granddaughters and to collect as many hugs as possible before they set off on their next adventure in Okinawa for the next three years. And that, after all, was certainly accomplished more fully at the kitchen table than watching them play in habittrails.

Still--PER, PRE and MIS conceptions--it's been a lesson and adventerous ride to be sure!

Peace and love,

Carol