Someone is Watching

I had another procedure on my foot yesterday, but after being gone camping, a trip to walmart was inescapable. I hobbled in with four rambunctious children, even with using gum as bribery. We had some returns to do and that took almost a million years. We had the oldest slowest person in the world trying to use the scanner thingamajig. After that we headed over to the in-store optometrist to have Miss J's glasses adjusted. That took another million years during which time my three boys decided that the jumbo card with dual seats was not actually a mode of transportation, but a jungle gym on which to climb, slide, jump from, swing on, etc. I gave them the evil eye while trying to communicate with the gal adjusting the glasses. Then when I saw The Toddler pushing on the back side of the cart and trying to climb in that part - just moments before it would slam down on his fingers, feet and head (can you picture the part I'm talking about?) I ran over and, though I wanted to scream, started a pep talk about how that was NOT SAFE! And we are safety kids and need to be safe, and NOT climb on that part of the cart, and did he want to earn his piece of gum, and we were almost done so could he please just sit in the seat part or did he want me to hold him... The tension was mounting for me, and we hadn't even started in on my grandiose list. That's when a woman whom I'd noticed eying my little monkeys as they maneuvered dangerously on the cart came over, touched my arm, looked me in the eye and said, "It's so nice to see a parent talking instead of yelling at children." I mumbled some sort of, "oh well... um... thank you" and then took a deep breath and thanked heaven I had been talking when I felt like yelling. And yes, I gave myself a literal pat on the back. That gave me the boost I needed to finish our walmart list and run three more errands and then hobble back home. A lot of mothering is done without anyone seeing what we're saying, how we're touching, or if we're actually actively doing it. Today's experience reminded me that SOMEONE is watching, always. And that SOMEONE can give us a boost anytime we need it.