"It goes so fast...."

So, my husband is out of town. So what....nearly every mom I know practically rolled her eyes at my preparations, which including making sure we had a playdate or something to do every afternoon he was gone. A lot of husbands are out of town. I will say, though, that my particular husband is pretty great, and I really do feel like we co-parent all the time. Which is why I have been cranky this week, and will probably be until he returns this afternoon.

Monday and Tuesday were good days, punctuated by the occasional bad moment or meltdown. Yesterday, not so good. It started at 3:30 a.m. with a "mommy, I peed in my bed!" wake-up call. After the calming, changing of clothes (a stylin' outfit that involved, inexplicably, a belt and shorts), putting back to bed in the sleeping bag, I got another 20 minutes of sleep or so until baby J decided that it was time for him to get up. We nursed, and then he flopped over on the other side of the bed and said, "Dada? Dada? DADA!!!!!!!!" and then screamed for a while because his beloved dad was not there to rock him back to sleep as usual.

Fast-forward past morning baths, daughter to school, a nap for J but not me, and we're at Target in the bathroom. M decided in the middle of shopping that she had to go NOW and so we abandoned our cart. She took forever on the potty, J was pulling all the TP out of the roll and of course putting his hands all over who knows what nastiness, and trying to crawl out of the stall while, god forbid, I went to the potty too.

At the sink, I was holding a screaming, flailing, J while M was turning it into the most formal hand-washing ritual I'd ever seen, and I said, with a teensy bit of hostility, "Hurry up. Your brother is freaking out."

And that's when the woman at the next sink decided to give me her bit of wisdom. "They grow up so fast," she said, as J flailed and M sprayed. "I've heard that," I said, nicely. Oh, but then she decided to go on. And on. About how it was so fast and the second you turned around it was (scream, flail, spray) over! I looked at her and said, "You know, usually, I get that, but today, it's just not so fun." She looked at me like I had slapped her and went out of the bathroom without saying another word.

Now I don't know her situation. Perhaps she had a child who died. Perhaps she has children she misses terribly. Who knows! I tried and tried to excuse her...I felt bad that I wasn't nicer. But you know, it was a bad day. I love my children, but jeez, little kids make for HARD days, and I can't be patient all the time.

So I've been thinking a lot about her, and trying to pray for her, and hoping I didn't completely ruin her day. But maybe nobody told her it's okay to have crappy days, to wish you could have a second by yourself, to not have to be so freaking NICE all the time, to know that Jesus is okay with me even when I'm snarky.