moments.

Do you ever have those moments when you are like 'I can't believe I just did that?'  Yeah me neither, but I have this "friend" who once was at a fancy schmancy nightclub/restaurant in Minneapolis & had to go number 2.  Surely I am not the only one this has happened to right? I mean could there be any worse timing for such a thing to happen?  Just wait it gets worse.  So my "friend" has been in the one stalled bathroom for some time when she begins to sense there may be a crowd waiting to use the restroom.  The knocking on the door & general female chatter was what gave it away.  The horrible thing was that the toilet go clogged. It.would.not.flush.  There was no plunger & it was getting more embarrassing the longer I my friend debated about what to do.  Finally after washing my hands (by this time the polite knocking & inquires on the door had turned into full on banging & yelling)  I tossed my hair  & made my grand exit saying to the million girls now waiting in line "Someone didn't flush." & I high-tailed it back to my table where I immediately downed the rest of whatever cocktail I was having to try & cool my blushing red cheeks.  Fast forward 5 minutes to when I catch a janitor with a mop & bucket heading into said restroom.  Seriously a 'I can't believe I just did that!!!' moment was cut short & I told my husband to pay the tab we HAD to leave pronto.  There was also the time in Saint Paul when I flooded my friend's one and only bathroom during a dinner party & her husband very humbly cleaned it all up as the rest of us sat downstairs pretending nothing was out of sorts.  I am thinking that  I wasn't getting enough fiber during that time in my life.  Or maybe too much fiber.  Whateves it is behind me.

All this to say as a mother don't we have so many "I can't believe I just did that" moments?  Whether it is changing a blow-out diaper in the back of your car when you only have 2 wipes left or going all mama bear on that little kid at the park that just hit your baby boy.  Okay maybe he was 3, but still that other kid had no right to hit him & since his mom was just texting seemed like someone should step in & do some parenting.  But, I shouldn't judge because I have also been that mom just sitting at the park, taking a breath, and texting a friend. Or spacing out mentally meal planning for the upcoming week.

I like the "I can't believe I just did that" moments my boys have.  When they don't even have to say it either & they just look at you to see if you just saw what they just did.  They are so exhilarated that they jumped from the big couch to the ottoman to the smaller couch with out falling into the hot lava below!  They search you out in a crowd at the field, because they can't believe they just hit the ball & got to run to first base at T-ball!  When they look at me to see if I saw how they just gave up the toy they were playing with just because they knew it would make their brother happy.

There are so many little moments that happen throughout the day that I could totally miss if I am not in the present.  If I am checking my phone, email, facebook, my whatever I may miss their looking up to see if I saw.  I may miss them search me out in a crowd just to make sure I am there & to get a reassuring smile.  By worrying about the moments to come or wishing  the one I am in away I may risk missing THE moment all together.  And although there are A LOT of moments that have happened in my life that I wouldn't have minded if they had never occurred at all these moments I am in now are not ones I want to miss & it would be a loss to me if they had never happened. So it is a good reminder for me to stay in the moment with my boys.  To be present.  To be engaged.  And to teach them to use just the right amount of toilet paper when they wipe.