The famous last words I’m going to talk about are not from celebrities and/or notorious people. It’s words that come back to haunt us. Examples are: “I’ll never do that again!” or “I’ll get it done in a day or two. Don’t worry about it.” Recently, I heard them from my daughter Sara and I knew it wouldn’t be good.
It was my day to stay with my new little grandson, Maverick. When I arrived at Sara’s house, she reminded me that he had a 2 o’clock doctor’s appointment. I remembered and was looking forward to helping her with him. I asked if she was still doing her dog walks for the day. She was. Worried about her having enough time, I told her she didn’t have to walk my dog Roxy since I had walked her that morning. She said walking her would be no problem and she would be back by 1:30. “We’ll have plenty of time to get there. No problem.”
I immediately thought, “She shouldn’t have said that.”
A few hours later, I was rocking Maverick when my phone chimed with a text message from Sara. She wanted to know where I hid my spare house key outside. I texted back that I didn’t have an extra key hidden outside. She replied that she had just locked her keys inside my house. My brain immediately went into overdrive. It wasn’t that she was in any danger or we couldn’t reschedule Maverick’s appointment. For one, it was already a little after 12 and we didn’t have a lot of time to play with. For another, he was born six weeks early and had been in Children’s Hospital NICU for three weeks. On top of that, the doctor has been trying to figure out why Maverick had been so colicky. There were no bones about it: we really needed to get to this appointment.
My first realization was that I couldn’t drive back to unlock my house since I didn’t have a car seat for Maverick in my car. I immediately called my mom, but then I remembered she was at work. There wasn’t anybody else who could stay with Maverick while I drove back home. Then I thought of my stepfather. Fortunately, he answered his phone, but he was on his way to pick up my mom from work. They had plans for the afternoon. When I explained the situation, he agreed to help and then get mom.
He stopped by Sara’s and I gave him the opener to my garage door. The kitchen door opens into the garage, so she wouldn’t need the key for the front door. I prayed that I hadn’t locked it when I left that morning. She texted after she retrieved her keys that she that she was doing another dog walk and then be on her way home. She asked me to get Maverick ready so we could head out as soon as she got home.
Are you all wondering if the problem was solved after that? Not quite. We grabbed protein bars as we dashed out the door since we had about 12 minutes to get to the doctor’s office. As we’re heading there, this truck pulled out in front of us. While that in itself was a little frustrating, the gas smell from it was worse. I’m surprised we didn’t develop a headache.
As for the appointment, we did arrive a little late, but the office staff were nice about it. Once we were seated in an exam room, I began to relax. That is until the doctor announced: “He needs two shots today.” Actually, little Maverick did very well with them. Better than some adults I know. After that, we picked up some food in a drive through since all we had were the protein bars. So, did we get to go back to Sara’s then? Nope. We ate in her car as she drove to her last dog walk for the day. She ran out of time earlier to get to it. After that, I ran into a store to get something for Maverick and milk for my house.
After our problem-filled afternoon, we finally arrived safe and sound back at Sara’s house, but it wasn’t over yet. At least not for me. I had to jump into my car and head back home. Before I left that morning, I had planned on peeling and cutting up potatoes as well as mixing the meatloaf. For some reason, I ran out of time. So, as I’m driving home, I was planning on getting all that done and have them cooking before Tim got in from work. About three miles from the house, Tim called. He was getting off early and on his way home. I told him, “Listen it’s been a hectic day and your supper’s gonna be a little late.”
“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” James 4:13-15 (KJV)
These verses made me stop and think about how often I take time and even the future for granted by making definitive plans and promises. Actually, it’s a common practice for most people. Just keep in mind that each second we have is a gift from the Lord and not a given.
My mom has her own unique way of disarming famous last words by using her version of an old phrase. For instance, she would tell somebody: “I’ll be there tomorrow as long as the Lord doesn’t come and the creek don’t rise.”
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.