Moments...

Being a mom is the most amazing job/vocation/calling/responsibility/LIFE in the entire world. Except when it isn't.

And then you just want to crawl into a hole or if you happen to be having a particularly awful mama moment in public, have the ground open and swallow  you up, right then and there!

BUT...

Then you read something that makes you sit up and think, THAT! That is the kind of mom, no... correction, the kind of PERSON, that I want to be. All the time. Every day.

Earlier tonight I read a note on my friend Stefani's Facebook page and with her permission, I am posting it here.

To the parents of the autistic girl in the party store:

Hi. It's okay. No, really; it's okay. I know your daughter swatted my baby, who was sleeping in my sling, but I'm not mad. Babies are fascinating. They're people, but tiny. They have little hands and little feet and huge eyes. They are delicate, yes, but your daughter either didn't remember or didn't know that. And that's okay. It might come with time. Don't apologise. I get it. She just wanted to see him. She was excited. So as you tried to hurry off, to get your daughter away from my baby before she woke him or hurt him, I called to her.

"Hey... Hey, sweetie. Do you want to see the baby?" You froze, and then apologised some more. It must be hard. You must have people getting angry with you all the time. But not me.

"Here, look. He's sleeping. Isn't he cute?"

You daughter's face lit up in excitement as she swatted near his face. You stopped her hand, I dodged a little and came back to centre.

"Gentle, sweetie." I brought my baby close. Close enough for her to really see him. She tilted her head and looked at the ceiling and then back somewhere over my shoulder. Then she smiled.

I haven't been there, but I understand. I know you will struggle, your daughter will struggle, her brother will struggle. Some people will get angry at you when your daughter yells at dinner, when she won't sit still or runs where she shouldn't.. When she gets too excited and swats a baby...

But not me.

..................

Because those moments when you want to run and hide, when you think the world is looking and judging, they are just that.

Moments.

And sometimes all it takes is someone else to see that moment, recognize it for what it is and make it better.

Like Stefani did today.

<3