DRAMA QUEEN FOR A DAY Jennifer Denny
well, it all started on July 3, 1997 (to be exact). I have two toddlers and decided to take a shower while my 3-year-old son Kyle was asleep. I thought my daughter Kiersten was also fast asleep in her crib. To this day, I don't know what exactly overcame my child while I was away, all I know is what ensued was a disaster. Just to set the mood: I am a stay-at-home mom and we just bought a brand new home. When I got out of the shower, my 3-year-old was sitting on my white couch holding a huge poster permanent marker (Marks-a-lot) pen. I did not notice anything else until I went into the kitchen -- we have a very large kitchen about half the length of the house. I saw BIG BLACK circles on every single part of the linoleum, not a space was spared. The only spots left plain white were underneath the rugs. It was as if he thought my kitchen floor was a sidewalk and the marker, sidewalk chalk. It was far from chalk; it was permanent ink. At this point I wanted to die. I started crying around 3 p.m. I think I cried for three hours. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I turned to look in the family room where the wallpaper was halfway up the wall with an adorable border and saw huge circles with little circles all over half of it. Then I turned to look at the computer desk where I am typing right now -- he drew small and long lines all over it, on the legs and on the top part. Just a reminder, this is permanent ink. Luckily, he spared the computer. He went to my mother's antique coffee table, which was an heirloom, and went around and around the top with the pen. And -- yes there is more -- on the back of all our doors, circles, on a small part of the carpet, a circle, inside drawers, including ones we are just now finding, circles, in his room, circles, on his furniture, the same thing. I was past the point of normal sanity. Kyle was in his room curled up in a ball, upset because he heard me sobbing; he knew he'd done something wrong. So basically he drew from one inch of this house to the other in 20 minutes. I praise the Lord that he did not touch the couch, but I fear that was his next target because that is where I found him. My husband, Bart, and I spent the next eight hours ripping wallpaper off the walls and pouring bleach on everything. The linoleum has lost its shine and Bart and I had chemical burns all over our knees and hands. The hair on Bart's knees was even burned off. Most everything is back to normal now, except the wallpaper. But that was the worst day of my life; it was as if I had let loose a monster in the house. We figured our little angel of a son did about $500 in damage that day. My eyes were bloodshot and swollen clear into the next day. I did not yell much, I just cried and sobbed. And what's most interesting is that my son had to go looking for that marker, it wasn't just sitting out, it was deep inside the computer desk's drawer. Hope nothing like this ever happens again.
|