POA

“Oh Suzie, why did you do that?” was the exasperated question Nate asked and you probably will too. I’ll tell you what I did and then if I can think of a good enough reason by the end of this blog I’ll tell you why.

Time: 7:50pm
Day: last Friday
Where: My house

Description: It was a cold dark October night when our doorbell rang. I looked over at the clock from my chair which I was dozing in at the time and thought it was still a little too early for Nate and Uriah to be home from a soccer game. Josh and Gabe ran to the window shouting, “Who is it, who is it?” I asked if they could see anyone but they couldn’t tell. I thought I heard a girl’s voice so I assumed it was my next door neighbor ringing for an egg or cup of sugar.
I opened the door to hear a merry, “Hello” as if from a happy friend but I still couldn’t make out who it was. I was looking through our screen door out into the dark so I didn’t know I was giving a merry “hello, how are you?” to a complete stranger. When I finally noticed I didn’t know this person I felt a little silly for giving her such a nice greeting.

She was a young girl maybe slightly over college age wearing a trendy light sweater jacket and striped scarf. Her hair was cut short and real cute and she had a big smile on.
She asked if she was bothering me with one of those, “I know I am” looks.
Right away I asked her if this was one of those magazine things. She guiltily said yes and instead of asking me to buy magazines she asked if she could use the bathroom.

Okay so right now you are probably shaking your head and thinking, “Oh Suzie, you didn’t let her in did you?”

YES I DID LET HER IN!!! sigh….

With toys strewn over the floor, dinner scraps still left on the table and kids jumping up and down curious to see who was at our door I let her in. At this point as she stood right inside the door, my brain flashed back to about two summers ago when I let another stranger into the house to use the bathroom and how unhappy that made Nate. I felt guilty as I led her upstairs to the bathroom (my messy bathroom). I shut all the bedroom doors and came back down stairs with all the boys and we waited.

If you thought that was the end of the story…well it’s not.

Girlfriend walks down the stairs and sits on my couch and says, “you mind if I chill in here for a few minutes until my ride gets here? I wouldn’t ask cuz (blah blah blah) but it’s so cold out there and dark.” She tried to make me feel more comfortable about having her in my house by asking me some personal questions. If this was indeed her reasoning for asking if my husband was sleeping upstairs, what kind of job does he have? do the kids sleep well? Have you ever been robbed? (JUST KIDDING on the last oneJ ), well she was totally wrong. I started to ask her some questions too. So you said you have kids? How many? How old? You go to school? Why do these people only sell magazines????
After our round of 20 questions she shocked me again by asking, “Do you have anything I could eat like a raw hot dog or something…just to take the edge off?”
DANG! This girl was like none other!!
I thought for a minute. “This girl is real. She is in my living room. She is now asking me for food. A raw hotdog to be exact. I don’t have any hot dogs. I am now totally uncomfortable. Jesus would give her a hot dog. Jesus would have given her 5,000 raw hotdogs, but I’m not Jesus.”
“No, I don’t have any hotdogs. I don’t really have anything right now.”
“No problem, well thanks for letting me get warm I’ll go wait on the curb for my ride.” She said bye to the kids who were all bouncing around showing off their cool moves for her. I shut the door and locked it and then about a minute later peeked out the curtain to see if she was gone. I saw a hooded figure hugging it’s knees under the street lamp. I figured “it” was “her”. I felt a little safer knowing she didn’t just disappear and was waiting like she said she would.
I went to the kitchen looking for something I could let her eat. I saw the granola bar box and grabbed two. I called her over and she came running. A bit lost dog like she came back and she hadn’t changed any in the 2 min we were apart. She asked to stand in the doorway and wait and then asked to use the phone. (don’t worry, she does leave and this story will end.) She called her “ride” and told them she was waiting. She waited another minute and Tyler showed her his star wars pictures and she smiled and thanked me again and then went back into the cold night. The next time I looked out of the window she was gone. I looked around the house and saw that we have NOTHING worth stealing and took comfort in that, then I made sure EVERYTHING was locked.

For the next 20 minutes I debated on how much I should tell Nate and cringed knowing exactly his facial expressions and the words that would come out of his mouth after telling him. I also checked the bathroom and pondered over all the questions she asked.
I did tell Nate about her and yes he did scold me but I deserved it. He wasn’t mean about it but he didn’t ignore it either. Not when it involves his lovely wife and his adorable children.

I understand that I have a problem saying, “No.” I always have. That’s why I joined this new group called POA (Push-Over Anonymous). We spend the first 30 minutes telling our stories so we never forget where we’ve come from, then for the next 30 minutes we practice saying, “No!” ;)

Actually I tried to come up with some good lines with a friend of mine so that when the next person comes to use the bathroom I’m prepared. For example, “No, I’m sorry but you can try my neighbor” or ,” Sorry our toilet is broken.” But then that would be a lie. I think I just need a sign posted on my door that says NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS.
I actually think if a man or a woman showed up at my door I would be brave enough to say no since I’ve dealt with that but heaven help me if an old lady shows up!!