Thoughts from the Locker Room

 Tonight as I walked, feet slapping the wet concrete, with Wyatt into the ladies' locker room, I smiled, grateful yet again that we are in Washington, enjoying all there is to see and do, with our family.  Tonight it was swimming at our favorite pool, watching the twins slide down the yellow twisty slide by themselves (!!!), and catching Wyatt as he cannon balled at us from the pool deck.

While I was in the changing room, there were a few moms whose kids were out swimming, but their moms were fully dressed, chatting in the locker room.  Not only was I self conscious-- hello seventh grade. This is my body. Having it naked in front of other women makes me uncomfortable-- but I also found myself growing progressively more sad.  One woman was discussing how overwhelmed she was every time she opened her garage (a feeling I can relate to every time I open our storage unit here) and the other was talking about how she can't remember dates or important things any more, and she thinks it's because she has five kids and suddenly there's just too much going on.

But what made me sad wasn't that they were overwhelmed or forgetful.  Like I said, I can so relate! What made me sad was that they were there, at the pool, where they couldn't do anything about their to-do list anyway, and yet they weren't swimming.  They weren't in the water, laughing as their daughters raced across the deep end, or giggling as their sons did belly flops into the clear water.  It's true, life often feels like a race.  And it's hard to take time to have fun or enjoy the things we work so hard to have... but they were so close.  They were one door away from having what could have been the best night of their week so far.  They were one outfit change away from making memories with their children that could last forever.

So even though my Tinker Bell towel didn't quite cover all my flaws, and I'm sure those ladies saw more of my backside than they might have desired, I walked away feeling great.  I don't have a perfect body, the perfect house or the perfect life, but I am getting one thing right.  And that is taking time to make memories with my kids.  And that's pretty perfect.

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