Hid Under the House

Tustin, California, about 1957:

When I was about seven years old, my mother planned to take my brothers and me to the doctor to get our mandatory shots. We lived in Tustin, California, and had a big house up in the Santa Ana foothills. Later that evening we planned to go roller skating at a skating rink.

I didn’t want to get a shot, so I talked Daniel (about age five) into hiding with me in the crawl space under the house, the logic being, if we could not be found, then we’d miss our appointment at the doctor.

Dan and I snuck outside and ran to the side of the house to the crawl space entrance. We were mentally prepared to face the dirt floor, spiders, and other unknown creatures. We were scared but we were brave. It would be worth it to escape a shot. We hunkered down and quietly waited.
As the time to go approached, we could hear my mother calling for us as she searched inside and outside the house. The property was quite large and even included a gully with tall trees. In her imagination, we could have been anywhere.

Her voice was joined by my older brothers, Richard and Riley. Daniel and I giggled with the thought of outsmarting our mother.

We waited a long, long time, until we were sure the appointment time had passed. Then, we emerged victorious in completing our mission.

Mother was really angry. We needed those shots for our own protection from infectious diseases, things that could really hurt us. We should have known she wouldn’t make us do something that would hurt us.

Our punishment? No trip to the roller skating rink. THAT would teach us a lesson!

What lesson did I learn? Just because I don’t want to do something, and I fulfill my goal to escape doing it, I may not know what is best for me. Those in authority usually have a better picture of what is best for me. They may be my parents when I was growing up, or even Heavenly Father. I need to trust their judgment and accept their vision of things I cannot see or I may not be healthy enough (spiritually or physically) to do the things I want to do.