"Bad Idea Lindley"

Every so often a person enters into our home and John likes to call her “Bad Idea Lindley”. I personally think a better name might be “Spontaneous Adventuresome Lindley” – but Tomato/Tom-ah-to I suppose… For now we will just go with John’s moniker. “Bad Idea Lindley” might or might not be responsible for things such as:

1) Convincing John to hold Emma in one arm while using the other to hold onto a large rope swing that projected them 15 feet into the air and landed them in the lake up in VT. It ended well but as John later pointed out – it might have been a slightly unnecessary risk. “Bad Idea Lindley” was sure the fun/exhilaration outweighed the risk…

2) “Bad Idea Lindley” is also known for eating food from the fridge that may or may not be a little bit rotten and feeding said food to her husband and children. 4 week old bacon. Not her best idea. She is a thrifty lady, you’ve got to give her that.

3) There was also that time she got her entire family lost in the woods when she was sure she knew where she was going. “I’m a local.” she said, as they wandered through the Greenwich Montgomery Pinetum trails with Emma in a stroller and Sophie in a baby carrier. The story ended with John holding the very heavy stroller in his arms as they waded through swampy waters to get back to the trail. Thankfully they found their way out of the woods just in time to get themselves home for kickoff. Maybe hiking on Superbowl Sunday wasn’t her best choice…

4) And “Bad Idea Lindley” can also be accused of thinking she can do altogether too many things at one time. She’s a real pro with a to-do list. Checking multiple things off a list makes her giddy.

So here is what went down… I’ll warn you now that this is not a happy ending. “Bad Idea Lindley” was in charge earlier this week when she decided to check a few things off the “list” first thing in the morning. She dropped Em at school at 8am, parked in front of Sophie’s school at 8:15am, and had Sophie strapped in the stroller and ready to roll by 8:20am. En route to grabbing a much needed cup of coffee she decided to stop at the cash machine at the top of Greenwich Avenue. She really gave herself a pat-on-the-back as she realized that taking cash out on Tuesday meant she could avoid the drive-thru bank machine on Thursday. She was also pretty fired up to pay the nanny on time for a change. (She’s frequently late on the payment front…)

They hit the cash machine, grabbed coffee, and strolled back up to Lafayette Place to drop Sophie at school. “Bad Idea Lindley” really did have the best intentions when she decided to leave the stroller parked beside the car as she walked Sophie in – fully planning to dump it in the trunk as soon as Soph was safely in her classroom. Maybe she should have taken the 2 minutes to put the stroller in the car and lock it – but she was in the zone. The “check things off the list” zone. Sophie dropped off? Almost a check.

And that’s when her frazzled mind forgot that her wallet (with the cash) was under the stroller. She headed into the school, chit chatting with other moms and kids along the way. She was so in the zone… 15 minutes later she walked back to the stroller and literally slapped both hands to her cheeks (á la Kevin in “Home Alone”) as she realized the bone-head mistake she had made. She noticed right away that the wallet was now open as it lay in the netting under the stroller. She picked it up while saying out loud the “Oh God” prayer. (You know the one we’re talking about.) And then as she opened the wallet she realized the cash was gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.

She was crushed. She felt stupid. She felt violated. She felt completely shocked that in the ten minutes she was gone someone had boldly crouched down, taken her wallet out, and stolen her cash. All within 10 feet of other moms who stood outside the school talking. All within 200 yards of the entrance to the nursery school and the CHURCH across the street. This thief was brazen. Thank God she didn’t come out and catch the person doing this vial crime – because I think we all know “Bad Idea Lindley” would have tried to tackle the thief.

So in conclusion – “Bad Idea Lindley” learned a lot this week about being careful. Being careful and slowing down enough to do one thing at a time. Put the stroller in the trunk. Lock the car. And then walk your child in. Today it was cash from her wallet but tomorrow it could be the car, sentimental objects from her home, or worse… We don’t need to be scared but we do need to be safe. Lock your cars people. And your homes. It’s just not worth to take stupid risks.