Jesus in the Backseat.

1996

"Sacha it is my turn to sit in the middle!" Chelsea hopelessly said to her brother. "Mommy, tell Sacha to move, it is not fair he ALWAYS sits in the middle!"

In France children are not allowed to ride in the front seat of the car, until they are 14 or reach a certain height. The car battle zone was the middle seat; in which there was a straight shot view out the front window. Having two children engaged me in peace talks each journey.

Sacha was a mastermind at claiming the strategic spot: He would either pitch a royal fit, or scream bloody murder. It worked. Chelsea and I let him have his way in order to have peace of mind. Peace talks seldom went pass the first word!

This day was an exception to that rule.

Dropping the bomb I said, "Sacha you need to share, it is Chelsea’s turn. Please move."

He went ballistic. Oh how he could be dynamite! Sometimes NATO doesn’t agree, single agent Sacha stood sat for what he wanted against the odds.

"Sacha I am not in the mood for this behavior, you need to move now, or I will move you!" Threatening wasn’t my style unless facing a four year old with his red hot temper and a six year old who should have won a noble peace prize– or at least a middle seat once in awhile!

As we drove off in our new positions, Sacha looked at me in the rear view mirror, "Mommy, I don’t think Jesus would have responded in the same way. He would (have) hugged me and told me to have the middle."

With the force short of a miracle I didn’t laugh, "Sacha, did you act like Jesus?"

"Oh! I didn’t think about that!!"



Comments

20 responses to “Jesus in the Backseat.”

  1. Bravo! Bunny stamp material! Don’t you just love it when you think of the perfect come-back at the time rather than later that night when you are lying in bed, sleepless because you are still stewing over it?

  2. ah yes, the days of special seats in the car … excellent story, thanks!

  3. oh. memories. more memories.
    i had that brother as well. always claimed the special seats in the car or on the couch. or in anything in life.
    not much you can do when said brother is eight years older and much much bigger. and back then, bigger to me also meant bigger than life.
    and to this day, my show & tell in the family are scarred knees, a scar on the forehead and a screetch when anyone taps me unexpectedly from behind.
    but i still love that big brother. and from him too, i still get those “uhm, i didn’t think about that.” moments.
    thanks for this story!
    oxo

  4. Wait a minute? You mean I have 10 more years of arguments like this? It doesn’t end when kids are teenagers (or preteens).
    I’m so proud of your comeback to your son’s Jesus comment. Comments like yours don’t come to me until a couple of hours after the episode.

  5. Tongue in Cheek responds:
    In all fairness to Sacha– he is a delightful boy, he no longer has a red hot temper, and is very loving to his sister 98% of the time.
    Those ballistic days seem long long ago…except this one memory!

  6. My kids fight about that exact same middle seat. I don’t get it, when I was a kid, we always fought for the window seat.

  7. my oh my…. every mom can
    relate to this… my kiddos are teens and we still have the same who sits where
    tiff going on… god… dont ya just love it when you rise to the occasion and come up with a perfect (and calm)
    come back ???? humor is the
    secret weapon for life !

  8. Great rebuttle, Corey! It’s always a dirty trick when your opposition brings religion into it 🙂

  9. I don’t mean to be picky here, but I think Jesus mostly *walked*.
    That kid of yours is a crack-up!

  10. What a little devil. I love the picture!

  11. What a cute story, and pic to go with it! I had no idea that there was an age restriction on children sitting in the front seat in France. Learn something new every day!

  12. I can tell that mischief and fun runs in the family! I love this story Corey, you have the uncanny ability to make memories real again.

  13. HA! oh kids…where do they get it?

  14. AH! That is one crazy kid. I love it when they try to pull one over on ya!

  15. A wild child; enjoyed the story.

  16. I’m so glad my boys don’t fight…we all have “assigned seating” LOL

  17. Children are always full of surprises.

  18. They forget that “Mommy always get the last word in!”

  19. What a funny and delightful story!
    The backseat of the car was always a battle field for my sister and I, we drew imaginary lines that divided it and if someone or somenone’s doll ever crossed them it was war!

  20. Loved this story!! Thanks for sharing it! Reminds me of being young but we used to fight for the windows; and with a family of 7 kids, there was plenty of fighting for windows! lol

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