Seminary (catechism) classes started this week. Since we are not in Utah or SE Idaho, we don't have the luxury of release-time classes, so we have to do early-morning. I survived early-morning seminary, mainly because in my senior year my dad was the teacher. (Remember, Shauna?) Personally I don't get seminary. Why does having five more hours of religious instruction per week on top of the three gotten on Sundays plus the whatever-amount on Wednesday nights make a difference? Are teenagers so stupid that they need it? Speaking for myself, I only went because I was expected to, not because I wanted to. Except for spending more time with my dad that final year, I don't really think I got a whole lot out of it. I enjoyed my teachers, and being with the other kids, but I saw them every day at school anyway, plus Sundays and Wednesday nights.
So in our new ward, they have decided that seminary is Monday, Tuesday, and Friday mornings, with another lesson on Wednesday nights. Not Thursdays. Today is Thursday. My alarm went off as usual at 6:15am. I got up and went to go make sure the DD was up and getting ready for school. Her bus comes at 6:50 and if she has ignored her own alarm, she can still get up and ready for the bus when I get up. No child. The house was completely black. No evidence of bathroom activity (except that toilet really needs to be cleaned) and the bedroom is its usual tornado-like state. The computer was asleep, so it had been at least 30 minutes since it had been touched, and the front door was unlocked. Calls made to her cellphone went to voicemail. Panic mode ensued.
Being the practical person that I am, I wasn't about to start calling the cops until I was presentable, so I got into the shower. The VIP called the school, and reported our "missing" child. I called her phone again and left a message this time. I got dressed hurriedly and located my keys, intent on driving the neighbourhood. I was halfway down the stairs when my phone rang, playing Bob Marley's Three Little Birds, which is the DD's ringtone. Apparently, it was decided to hold seminary on Thursday mornings as well, but we the parents had not been informed.
Pass the Xanax, please.
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5 comments:
Just one more thing, Ma'am. I had to take a moment and listen to the song Halfway down the stairs. Brings back memories of Elm Street.
That's really scary. Thank goodness she was ok. GM prays for her safety all the time.
I would have been a little shapeless blob of panic by that time!
Glad it was all OK :)
Well, I can give you the "Sunday-School answer" to why we have seminary. There is so much more garbage going on in the schools than there was when we were kids that yes, they *do* need a daily inoculation to remind them who they are and Whose they are. And to help them remember to make good choices.
I shudder to think what some of my teens would have been like had they *not* gotten an hour of church six days a week, nine months out of the year.
Seminary activity [assuming there is genuine religious activity and not merely learning-by-osmosis with the head down on the table] is a pretty fair predictor of temple marriage, missions for the boys, and all the other things that are socially and culturally desirable in LDS families.
And I suspect that seminary is what kept a couple of my kids from taking their own lives at one point or another.
As for myself, I only wish that I had joined the church as a teenager, instead of as a young adult. It would have saved me so much grief! It's an experience that I missed out on; I had to settle for being an "institute junkie" after joining the church at 23.
Oh Mercy. I probably would've thrown up at some point. I'd also like to say 'shame on someone' for not letting the parents know.
I'm just so glad she's safe, and sound.
I'd emphasize how important it is to lock the front door though :^)
Oh, and on your parenting call? I'm with you, you did fine, being responsible for getting all your stuff to school with you.. well the sooner they get that one the
better.
xox
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