I was sure I was going to start this blog and write a fantastic blog post (in my head I am pretty amazing). I have been saving ideas as I built up the courage to start this new journey. But instead I woke up cranky with a million things to do and kids who wanted to spend their day hanging out instead of running errands. With four kids in tow and one that is potty learning just a trip to the grocery store is chaotic, let alone trying to stop at 6 stores in 3 hours. We hit store number 4 and I was quickly losing patience, overwhelmed and the kids were done with shopping. In my head they were out of control, everything coming out of mouth seemed to be going right in one ear and out the other. I could not focus on my list and what I needed at the store. My 4 year old was demanding we go back to the bathroom because she now needed to pee desperately after refusing to when the rest of us did upon entering the store, my 2 year old was yelling because he could see the toys from where we were standing in the beauty aisle and my 7 year old was sighing and rolling her eyes everytime I said “I just need one minute to focus guys, please!”
I cannot even count the number of times I have felt like everyone is staring and that I have no control of the situation that in my mind is spiraling out of control around me. It is an hour drive to get back to these stores and I really do not not want to do it again as Christmas approaches and the stores get even busier, but as I stand there it looks like I am out of options and I just need to pack it all in and come back on a day my 7 and 5 year olds are in school. It is not supposed to snow in the coming week so it should be an easy drive. As I stand there debating a young employee comes over with her arms full of product needing to be shelved, she looks from my kids to me and I felt like crying because she is obviously going to comment on how loud they are or how I should teach them to listen better. Instead she says to me “you have such wonderful kids and they are behaving so well in this crowd.” It took me a second to respond because I had to change my entire response from defense to accepting a compliment. She stood there and chatted with me for maybe a minute but it changed my whole perspective for the rest of shopping. This young lady in that short time reminded me that my kids while loud were not any louder than the other customers trying to be heard through the packed aisles, they were sitting in or standing by the cart like asked and not a one was touching anything on the shelves even though they were bored.
Motherhood is hard and lonely and sometimes we get stuck in our little head spaces and cannot get out. I needed a reminder that my kids were doing their best. It took a young lady less then a minute to give me a splash of perspective and save our shopping trip. A kind word goes a long way. Remember you are rocking this motherhood thing one day (sometimes one minute) at a time!
Four Squared Motherhood 