Most of us grew up listening to Paul Harvey’s The Rest of The Story. It was always a favorite of mine and I listened with great intent and anticipation, waiting to hear the end of the story that came together, like a ensemble of melodious words, always leaving you with wonder and deep thought.
This is not a profound story. It will not leave you with a thoughtful heart or a provoke you into deep thinking. It is however a funny story that I hope will make your heart smile at the thought of it. And it has a Rest Of The Story flavor to it:
It had been a whole week spent without seeing my girls, and mammy’s heart was aching, heavy with missing them. I had to run errands and was on the road when I talked to Andrea. “I need to go to the store, and Aria said, ‘I have a great idea! You can take us to mammy’s house and we can stay there while you go to the store!’”
This mammy could not contain her joy, “I think that IS a great idea!”
I explained to Andrea that I had some errands to run and I promised to call on my way home.
After I had completed my tasks, I had just one more stop to make. The Family Dollar store for just one item, a $6 blow up pool.
I returned home, called Andrea, then blew up the pool. Then I set to prepare for my precious girls. I made lemonade, pulled out cookies from the freezer, filled up the pool, set the sprinkler in place and put out seating and beach towels.
I found last years swimming suits and set them on the counter-above a note that read, “Put These On”.
I then proceeded to make a trail of signs leading them to the pool.
Then I waited . . . .
Soon, they were here, and I ran outside with my camera and swatted down, just about their level and waited to snap the pictures. I could hear their little feet as they ran throughout the house. I could picture them moving as swiftly as they could, pulling off their clothes and putting on their suits. And sure enough, in no time at all they were there, smiling and laughing with delight.
They played in the pool for a while then it was time for mommy to go to the store, so mammy dried the girls off and took them inside to wait for gumps. He did not know they were coming, so I tried to call him, but he did not answer.
Gumps pulled in the driveway just a few minutes later and I scooped up baby and we all ran to hide from gumps-something Aria always does when he comes home. We hid in the piano room, just inside the french doors and waited. Aria and I whispered to each other and baby was froze in my arms, not daring to move her head, but listened to us whisper, moving her eyes back and forth, from sissy to mammy. Every couple of seconds I would lean into her and whisper, “shhhhh” in her ear.
We heard gumps come in and we waited and waited and waited and waited. We strained our necks trying to peer around the doors, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Finally, we heard him again, and Aria whispered to me, “mammy, I can see him in the reflection of the glass!” I moved just a little and I was able to see him too. He was in the kitchen, looking through the refrigerator and checking out the pans on the stove. Obviously, he was hungry.
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally left the kitchen and headed our way. When baby saw him, she squealed with delight, her little finger was pointing at him and her legs were kicking and flailing wildly. I tried to contain her, but it was enough for him to realize we were there. As he turned to come into the room, we jumped out, and like always, he acted surprised. The girls jumped into his arms and they all went to play.
As far as I was concerned that was the end to a wonderful, perfect story, but it was not.
The rest of the story.
Aria has a pair of Martha Washington glasses that she likes to play with and use for dress up. She had spent the day playing with them and brought them with her when she came to our house. Upon entering the house and seeing her swimming suit, she sat her glasses down and ran to the bathroom to change.
When I was telling Andrea that we waited and waited and waited for gumps, overhearing us, he told us why.
“When I came in, I saw your sign that said, “Put these on”, so I put the glasses on and followed the signs outside.”
We laughed hysterically at the vision of gumps wearing Aria’s glasses and following the trail that had been meant for the girls.
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” Matthew 6:25
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