Happy-To-Be-A-Parent Meter

  Being a mom teaches me a lot.  I had an experience that I want to remember in words.  So, I'll share it.
  I'm not one that likes to ask for help, and have rarely asked for someone to watch my kids.  It's something I need to work on, and this time I really should have.  Lesson learned.
 A little over a week ago, I got Rissie out of school and took her to an eye appointment with my two preschoolers and teething 12 month old.  It was a new doctor for us and a new office, so it was an extra long visit.  The kids were relatively well behaved and the room full of geriatric patients were smiley and overall happy to be entertained by the four youngsters.  I wish I could have said the same for the staff.  The receptionist was kind, but the nurse and doctor were not, unfortunately.  Their wishing I had gotten a sitter could not have been more obvious.  That quickly made it true for me too.  I realize that being around little ones takes getting used to and sometimes a lot of energy, so I don't blame them, but I still left feeling my happy-to-be-a-parent meter waning. (Don't get me wrong - I LOVE being a mom!)
  Before going home we walked down the hall to Jon's office to say a quick hello to Daddy.  He was finishing up with a patient so we waited for him in his office that's shared by the other residents.  Another resident was there who I had met once before, but it had been a while.  After getting reacquainted, I remembered that this was the guy who gave Jon a place to sleep for a week until our house became available.  I was naturally inclined to like him.  Then with Emily strapped to me and my other three crowding into this little office and standing obediently still, he told me, and inadvertently my kiddos as well, about how he didn't want to have kids.  "They are too much work and responsibility."  He said.  Did he really just say that right in front of my sweet kids?  "Ah, that's true.  They are." I replied.  And as usual when I get some comment like that, I said stroking Anna's hair, "But they are SO worth it!"  They are.  The conversation continued with this and that about families and kids.  "I have a big screen at home, and if I had kids I wouldn't be able to afford it."  He said flippantly.  Lame.  Lame.  Lame.  Either he is dumb or he thinks I am.  I hate it when people treat me like an idiot.  He is going to be a practicing doctor in two years.  Of course he can afford one.  But his point was made, even though it was arrived at very poorly.   Fortunately, Jon came in before the conversation continued much further.  I left that office feeling very sad  and the conversation played over and over again in my mind weighing heavily on my heart.
  When I got home I sat at my desk to tackle Rissie's prescription issues with the insurance and hung my head in my hands.  I said a quick prayer asking for help through my slump.  By the end of the day, I had wiped several silent tears from my cheeks as I replayed that conversation through my head.  A television?!  I thought about my precious babies and couldn't imagine comparing their value to something so insignificant!  Each time I thought of it my heart would swell for my kids and ache for Jon's fellow resident and the mentality of so many others like him in this world.  
  At days end, my happy-to-be-a-parent meter was stronger than it had ever been!  Upon reflection, I see that God does work in mysterious ways.  Opposition in all things, right?  We see the good better when we've experienced the bad. (I'll still get a sitter for the next appointment.)  I'm so blessed to be a mother and am grateful that my experience with the bad has been so little.  So many others wish and wait to be parents, while others are content with the shallow happiness of stuff.  As we just celebrated Easter, I am overjoyed with gratitude for our Savior's atoning sacrifice so that this precious family of ours can be forever.

  Maybe Jon and I should invite his friend over for dinner soon and maybe he will see something good in being a family.  Maybe.