POST by LIZ: Oooh, I could Crush a Grape!

Elizabeth & Rene in downtown San Francisco

It is an incredible privilege to be touring California with my beautiful family,  which of course consists of Jed, my four precious ones and the eight wonderful lads whom God has put into our lives.  Our days are never monotonous; observing our engorged family soak in this surreal experience and growing more in God, brings a sense of contentment in my spirit.

Each and every one of my “children” have their own unique quirks. Political Correctness (PC) demands parents to say they treat all family members the same, but I personally find this to be highly unachievable.  Personality has a huge role to play and tends to eschew PC with great force. Honestly, while I strive to treat all the same, my daily interactions and methods of discipline with them all vary, due to ‘Personality’. 

While I love them all, Rene tends to have a special place in my heart.  He is young (15), passionate, impetuous, and majorly self-absorbed (like the majority of 15 year olds!)  Over the year I have known him, he and I have come a long way and we have had major collisions throughout the journey (some involving knives and others involving fists).

To let you in on a secret - he almost didn’t make the tour due to his inflated attitude that totally clashed with mine! But he made it on the California tour by a hanging thread, and certainly brings  vibrancy to the group.  

When we were in Nicaragua, waiting to submit passports, the line was long, the day was hot, and it seemed like days were being sucked out of our lives.  After three hours of moving at a snail’s pace towards the building which  would provide the precious document, lunch was overdue and we were fading away... 

“I’ll just run and grab us all something to eat,” I said trying to slip away quietly, but they all wanted to come with me for the adventure. So, Stivey and Eric held our queue positions, while the rest of us went to find food.  “How about McDonalds?” Rene quickly suggested, but at $6 per person, this was way out of our lunch budget, which was $12.50 for our entire group. Like a mother hen with chicks in tow, we made our way to the grocery store. 

“No Liz” Rene whined, wiggling a can of red bull in my face while I grabbed a pack of plastic cups and a couple of 3 litre water bottles.   

I expertly dodged the two-cm-from-my-face, visual requests for cans, pks of chips, and chocolate, as I swooped in and grabbed a cooked chook and some freshly baked rolls.      

“Pleeeeease...” Rene requested, with pitiful eyes that seemed bigger and more innocent than Puss-in-Boots’, a basket of fruit.  “Not today, fruit is expensive and right now we don’t have the money for this,”  but that wasn’t enough... Beycker, Jonny and Rene started to steal and eat the grapes and caused a riot – I stopped them, told them how utterly embarrassed I was of their rude behaviour and explained that they would get NOTHING if this behaviour continued...  This seemed to verbally slap Beycker and Jonny back into civility but Rene was persistent. 

As we left the fruit’n’veg section, and made our way towards the check-out, via aisle four, I noticed Rene munching on grapes while hosting a bunch in his hand.

“Rene, I said No more, grapes are really expensive and when you eat them like this without paying for them it’s called stealing!...” but he cut in my words stating he was going to buy them.

Knowing full well his personal budget, I stressed once again that I was not okay about him stealing, and that I would not be buying the grapes for him or anyone today.  But he stressed that he was paying and promised not to eat another grape until after paying.

Putting the cups, water, chicken and bread on the moving belt, Jonny’s eyes moved side ways towards the snickers. He then grinned as my eyes narrowed and my face indicated “not on your life!”

As the checker started scanning, I noticed the now hot and sweaty, ‘we’ve-been-in-Rene’s-hands’ grapes next to the bag of rolls.  All the boys had seen this and were silently watching for my reaction. 

Fearing the last minute requests for craved items from the other boys if I allowed the grapes to pass, I picked up a divider and placed it between the rolls and the grapes. Rene grinned whilst asking, “Please Liz?”  He looked at me, the check out chick looked at me, the other lads’ eyes were darting from the grapes to Rene, to me.  But I ignored Rene’s pleading and pulled out the cash from my pocket, handing it to the cashier, “Just these items thanks.” I cooed.

We picked up the bags and stood in a line entertained by the thought of Rene’s next reaction.  Jonny and Beycker chuckled while Rene fumbled in his pocket for loose cordabas. 

“That will be 23 cords please,” the woman at the teller said after scanning the forbidden fruit.

”WHAT?” Rene retorted, “That’s a rip off- 23 cords for a just a handful of grapes!”  

Rene looked at his treasure, then requested for the guys to lend him C$13. None of them had a cord... “Liz, can you lend me C$13?”  But I just smiled and shook my head. 

The lads couldn’t control themselves and burst out laughing, as Rene had to put the grapes to the side and walk away from the till.  Rene looked at me, I looked at him and we both started laughing which made everyone laugh harder.