There seems to be a lot of posts going around Facebook lately about moms. Some are good positive things and experiences and some are not so good. It seems that everyone has an opinion about motherhood, which makes sense, because many of us are mothers and we have all had different experiences.
I wanted to share a positive experience I had the other day from a woman I didn’t even know.
I was at Old Navy looking for some fall and winter clothes for my kids. If you haven’t been reading my blog, you may not know, I have a lot of small kids. I have a 4 year old, 3 year old, and 18 month old and am 6 months pregnant. So basically, we’re noisy and disruptive. For some reason my kids think that clothing stores are playgrounds and they love to run and hide in the clothes racks no matter how much I beg and plead with them not to. And my 18 month old just wants to be anywhere but the cart, but if I put him down for one second he’s pulling clothes off the racks and throwing neatly folded shirts on the floor. Yeah, we’re that family. And I apologize for when we come in your store.
Of course it would be easier to shop online, but we’re frugal and I like to check the clearance racks and I have a daughter who is super picky about her clothes and the smallest thing will bug her so I want to make sure she can see and feel the clothes before I purchase them. Because you just never know if she’s going to wear them when we get home.
I’m pushing around our cart, holding my son who is kicking and screaming to be put down which is really uncomfortable with my pregnant belly. My girls are running around my feet squealing as little girls do and I’m trying to look for clothes as fast as I can – thinking about what matches the pants I already bought my daughter, what looks appropriate for a 4 year old who is in the girls section now (she wears a size 6!), and what doesn’t have anything itchy on it so she’ll actually wear it.
And of course my 3 year old announces she needs to go to the bathroom. Really?!
We have to stop everything, take the cart to the bathroom, leave it in the hall, gather my diaper bag and all the kids, and pile into the stall. Not ideal.
As I begin to push the cart with one hand and my kicking son in the other, a woman behind me says, “You’re doing a good job. Hang in there.”
I was completely surprised and all I could get out was a thank you.
I figure that people in the stores look at us, but I usually think they’re just thinking – boy, that woman has her hands full (because I do hear that a lot!), I can’t believe how many little kids she has, better her than me, etc.
The last thing I was expecting was to hear encouragement.
After taking my kids to the bathroom, I came back feeling like things weren’t as bad as I thought. Yes, my kids are really difficult at stores, but I felt more patient and more love. My step was a little lighter and I didn’t feel so weighed down.
I appreciated that woman having the courage to say something to me.
We checked out and I got some amazing deals! And of course my kids opened a pack of Bubble gum when I told them not to, maybe 100 times, so I had to purchase that as well which I was not happy about…but those words spoken by that woman stuck with me.
I want to be her someday.
Someday, when I can go shopping by myself and I see another struggling, stressed out mom, I want to give her some words of encouragement. We’re all trying and we are all in different situations and we can all use a “you’re doing a good job. Hang in there.”