Conversations in the Minnie Van part 3

I have to write this down before I forget...

One morning, I was driving the girls to school. It was a gorgeous January day, just starting, and the kids' music was playing in the car. The girls were singing and the baby was drinking from her sippy cup.

Halfway there, Brookie dropped her sippy cup on the floor of the Minnie Van. Celeste tried to bend down to get it for her, but her seatbelt stopped her.

"Mom, could you get Brooke's sippy cup for her?" Celeste asked.

"Sure! Wait until I get to a stop sign." I answered.

At the next stop sign, I bent over and reached for the cup. As I handed it to Brooke, I realized I had seen something disturbing. There was no one behind me, so I took another look.

Emme was only wearing one shoe.

I started the van off toward school and said,

"Hey Emme. You're only wearing one shoe."

Emme looked at her feet.

"Oh yeah!" She said. "I guess I forgot to put on the other one."

Thinking back on my days at St. Hilary, I recall that one of my worst nightmares was going to school without shoes on.

"Emme. Are you okay with this? It doesn't bother you to be wearing only one shoe?"

"Yeah, it's okay, Mom." She assures me.

"Well, you're living my worst nightmare!" I say.
(Celeste gasps. I never claimed I was the best mother in the world.) "We need to find some shoes for you in this car so you can go to school with two shoes on!"

I start to think. All of last year, we had about 5 pairs of shoes in the car, but I had recently taken up a habit of cleaning it out nearly every day. There were no shoes except for their dance shoes.

"How about you wear your tap shoes?" I tell Emme. "Yeah, you can wear your tap shoes. Wouldn't that be cool?"

"No way mom. I am not going to be tapping around my classroom in tap shoes all day. I'd rather have one shoe." Emme is stubborn.

Celeste tries to help. "I can wear the tap shoes and Emme can wear my school shoes."

I think about this, but I can't stand the thought of Celeste tapping around the whole school in tap shoes. Emme's right. It's just too wierd.

We get to school and park. I send Celeste off to first grade and decide that I will have to buy a pair of shoes for Emme at Target which is just 5 minutes away from school.

"Mom, you're going to have carry me into my classroom. I don't want to get my sock dirty."

I pick up Emme and turn her in to Mrs. Margo who looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"How did she get past you with one shoe on?" I can see her imagine Emme walking outside to our car, me oblivious to my child's welfare. Then I see the light turn on.
"Oh! you have an attached garage! It would be easy for her to get in the car without you noticing!"

Yep. I smile at One Shoe Emme.

"Okay! I'll be back with some shoes. See you soon!"

"Okay Mama! I love you!"

I love her too. So much.