I Am a First Class Idiot - Guest Post by Riley

Hello, my name is Riley Pleasants, I am Michele's best second child and I am a first class idiot (and I don't even use that word, so you know it's serious). If you're wondering about this confession, let me give you some back story.

We're a puzzle family. That means that 9 times out of 10, we have a puzzle going on the table in the living room. We work on it in fits and spurts, with some of us being harder workers than others. The other day, Colby and I were working on a puzzle- a bigger one with tons of Disney characters on it. He and I were almost finished with the puzzle and we were getting down to the parts of the puzzle no one likes. You know, those sections that are all one color.

A few minutes previous to the Riley the Idiot episode, I had finished Bagheera and Baloo (from The Jungle Book). I had then moved on to the sky, when Colby pointed back to the section of the puzzle I had finished, "There's a piece missing."

Sure enough, Baloo was missing a foot.

I don't know if you do a lot of puzzles in your house and are familiar with all types of puzzlers, but there are some people in this world who like to remove pieces and then produce them when the rest of the puzzle is finished- much to the annoyance of everyone else. We've got several of these "fun" people in our house and I assumed Colby, the little stinker that he is, had pulled such a stunt.

"Ha ha, put it back."

Colby pulled his best innocent face, "I don't have it!"

"Where did you put it?"

"I didn't take it, maybe you're sitting on it?" That was a classic deflection if ever I heard one. He was still grinning like the Cheshire Cat, so you can see why I didn't believe he hadn't taken the piece.

The two of us went back and forth for several minutes, with Riley insisting he knock it off, and Colby insisting that he didn't have the piece.We must have gotten loud, because Mom intervened, informing Colby that if he wasn't going to produce the piece, he couldn't work on the puzzle.

I was now thoroughly ticked off and so continued to work on the puzzle in a huff. How difficult would it be for him to just put the piece back into the puzzle? Colby insisted he wasn't guilty again, so Mom let him work on the puzzle.

I was still fuming when I shifted in my chair and happened to look down.

Oh no.

(You can see where this is going.)

There, on the corner of my chair, was the missing puzzle piece. Baloo's foot. I had been sitting on it.

Through embarrassed giggles and a few tears I produced the piece for Colby, apologized profusely, and received a big hug from my 8 year old brother, who is obviously a better person than I am.

The lesson learned from brothers and puzzles? There are actually a few here. Don't go around accusing people. Be quick to apologize. Be quick to forgive.

And give grace for all of the first class idiots in your life.

Love, Riley

Momma Footnote- First, we do not allow the word idiot in our house. It is not nice. ;) Secondly, this incident reminds me of how quick we are to forgive when we are young.  Colby, though wrongly accused, did not miss a beat in telling Riley he forgave her and telling her it was ok. Oh, that we all might be so forgiving!

But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.  Matthew 6:15