A funny thing happened...

Yesterday was a particularly goofy Sunday.

I had returned from a week long trip this past Friday so by the time our worship service concluded, I was pretty well spent. My Sunday afternoon crossword had its usual hypnotic affect on me and soon I was chasing Morpheus around the block.

My boys had returned from a weekend Christian youth conference at a local church, and since they had been up to the wee hours, they were all dragging, too. One combated the fatigue by playing disc golf. Another decided to nap before work. He received that nasty adrenaline spike you get when you fade back into consciousness and realize it's later than it should be. He was ten minutes late for work. Austin, number three, busied himself with some computer stuff and then strolled back to his room.

My bride enjoyed an afternoon out shopping while the girls napped. When she returned from the mall, we began to roust the girls and get them ready for our evening worship service, and soon Drew returned from disc golf. We piled into the 'burb and headed off to church.

About half way there, I looked in the back seat and asked, "Where's Austin?"

You hear about it but you never think it could really happen. We had actually driven off without one of our kids. All heads swung around knowing full-well he wasn't present, but the dismay required confirmation. We burst into embarrassed laughter. Our thirteen-year old son was in a coma on his bed as we headed off to church.

The comedy continued when we returned home. When we drove up, the house was still dark. As we entered the house, Austin came bleary-eyed down the hall. He saw 7:30 and thought that his nap had lapped the clock! If I'd had my wits about me, I'd have had him get himself ready for school.

The moral to this story: Your kids are never too old to do a nose count!