Everyone likes to hear an embarrassing story, am I right? Well, settle in because I have one to tell. And don’t miss the end because I’m sharing five lessons about motherhood that I learned from said embarrassing moment!
A couple years ago, after a great time at the park with my one and a half year old I decided to stop by Chick-fil-A for supper. Because the store was busy as always, I parked in the back of the parking lot. To get to the store from where I’d parked I had to walk over a small strip of landscaped area, cross through the packed drive-thru line and then continue on the sidewalk to the store.
Anyway . . . as I stepped onto the small landscaped area, child on my hip and diaper bag on my arm (oh and did I mention that I was *quite* pregnant at the time?) I neglected to notice that the branch of a small tree was about level with the top of my hair. I walked right into it.
I guess I hit it at just the right angle because that little branch somehow managed to slip right between part of my hair that I’d pulled back with bobby pins. When I tried to continue on I realized to my horror that the branch was firmly stuck in the hair on the top of my head. I wasn’t going anywhere.
As you can probably imagine, I’m sure I made quite the entertaining picture for the drive-thru full of cars only a step or two away. Pregnant lady, diaper bag on one arm, toddler on her hip, stuck to a tree.
I don’t know how long I would’ve been stuck there if it hadn’t been for a kind, middle-aged man who came to my rescue. (Thank you random kind stranger!) Even though he had the use of both his hands, unlike me, it took some work for him to disengage my hair from the branch. He was very nice not to laugh.
Once I was free from the tree (with my hair now sticking out strangely on the top of my head) I thanked the kind stranger and hurried self-consciously into the store, laughing awkwardly and trying not to think about all the people sitting in their cars in the drive-thru, enjoying the scene.
After eating, as I got back to my car (avoiding the treacherous branch this time), I looked up to see the random stranger (who just happened to be leaving at the same time) as he smiled and waved before getting in his car with his son. This made me start laughing uncontrollably all over again. My toddler probably thought I was nuts. Ha!
So anyway, why am I telling you all this? So you can have a laugh at my expense? Well, yes, that, but also because I think that my embarrassing story has some parallels to motherhood in general.
Am I thinking too hard? I’ll let you decide.
Here are five lessons my embarrassing moment taught me about motherhood.
Know that things will go wrong when you least expect it
This, my friends, is just a fact of motherhood and, you might argue, of life in general. (Isn’t that Murphy’s Law? If anything can go wrong it will?)
So, advice from one mom to another? Be as prepared as possible. (And probably watch out for random tree branches too.)
Accept that you will be humbled, a lot
This mom life has ways of humbling us, that’s for sure. After all, we were all perfect parents until we had kids, am I right?
But being humbled isn’t all bad, because hopefully we’ll learn a lot of lessons from our humbling times that we can take with us as we continue on this journey of parenting.
And hopefully as we look back at our humbling moments we will be reminded to extend a lot of grace to other parents who need it as much as we do.
Be willing to accept help
While you may not find yourself stuck in a tree like I did, you’re sure to find yourself in a lot of situations where you could use some help. Be willing to accept it.
Better yet, be brave and ask for help!
Repeat after me: It is okay to ask for help!
Don’t worry about what other people think
This is such an important lesson about motherhood. It’s so easy to worry about what other people think, but we need to stop it! Parenting from a place of fear – a fear of others’ opinions – is not going to be effective parenting.
Who cares if a crowd the size of a Chick-fil-A drive thru line is watching you? Their opinions don’t matter, so don’t let them.
You are your child’s parent, not anyone else. Listen to good advice (because that’s just smart) but don’t allow worry of what others’ may think to creep in and negatively influence the way you’re parenting.
Laugh at yourself, often
Laugh at yourself; seriously, it’s okay! I’m not talking about laughing in a putting-yourself-down sort of way. It’s just that oftentimes we take ourselves too seriously. Let’s lighten up a bit, shall we?
Laugh. Learn from your mistake. Move on.
Well, there you have it, those are the lessons I learned about motherhood from my embarrassing moment! I know I’ll keep learning lots as I continue on this journey of motherhood – I just hope the next lesson doesn’t involve being stuck in a tree.
Now I’d love to hear from you! What lessons about motherhood have you been learning lately? Any embarrassing moments you want to share? (Please do share, we’d all love to laugh along with you!)
Do you enjoy reading posts about motherhood? Check out some of my other posts below:
When You’re Having a Long Day at Home With the Kids
