Patience

     My patience was worn to a very fine thread this afternoon when my older daughter locked my keys in my car. It should have been no big deal but I had spent the afternoon clearing out a very crowded bedroom so it could be repainted and then realized that I was late picking up my daughters from school for a doctor's appointment. So we're rushing... and we're late.... and after-school traffic is slow and busy...and we are discussing a very serious subject in the car, which is hard to do when you're also driving. I park the car--- there's a spot out front----hurray! My daughter reminds me several times to lock the car door after we climb out and I have already done that, of course. We get into the doctor's office and she's forgotten the prescription she wanted refilled, in the car. I hand her the keys, she goes out to the car, comes back in, without the keys. Oh, I had just had it!  Fortunately for both of us, we were in the doctor's waiting room, so I was forced to keep my comments brief and quiet. I called B.C.A.A., was told it would be an hour and it turned out to be about 15 minutes. No big deal, right? Calm was restored and we headed next door to Dairy Queen for a treat. And as my daughter reminded me on the way, she did not do it on purpose---it was an accident. And that really is the point. It's the intention of the act that matters. She did not intend to aggravate me right then. She is always trying to please me. Why do I find that so easy to forget at these mildly trying moments? Both my girls are lovely,well-mannered people who try to do their best, no matter what. Maybe I should try to do the same.