Our children, they are amazing and wonderful, and sometimes they are not. They do have minds of their own. And, sometimes, they can bring us to humiliation, tears, and frustration. The perpetual positive person in me likes to look at these moments for what they are and move on. Sometimes, I’ll even write them down just so that I’ll be sure to remember them later (maybe even embarrass my kids a little in the future). The stories are that good at times, like this one:

We took our girls to the mall and let them spend some time at the play area. When we decided to leave, my youngest was not happy. She refused to listen and kept trying to go back to the play area. I had to pick her up and carry her out. When I did this, it made her even more mad and she started flailing and screaming like I was a stranger abducting her from her family. I was embarrassed, but resolute. I wasn’t going to try to reason with her in that moment and just held her tight, walking as fast as I could to get to the car. I was hoping that she’d start to calm down.

Well, she didn’t. She screamed all the way and became more agitated. I started to walk faster as we entered Nordstrom and knew that if I could just get through this one last store, I was home free to the outside and close to my car.

My sweet girl wasn’t giving up on showing her displeasure and shortly after I stepped foot into this store, my completely potty trained little girl started peeing all over me. And, I’m not talking just a frustrated trickle, I’m talking I-just-drank-a-gallon-of-water kind of pee. It was coming out like a fire hose. I was mortified. I thought to myself, “should I stop?” as I was leaving a trail of pee all over the beautiful floors of this upscale store. Surely, I needed to tell someone so that no one got hurt, but I couldn’t. I just had to keep going, the screaming, the struggle to keep her in my arms was becoming futile and we were soaked to the bone in pee. I just had to make it to my car, that was what I had to do. I tried to walk even faster (perhaps even a slight jog), but my flip-flops were so wet that I was having a hard time keeping them on. But, we finally made it and all was well just a short few minutes later.

Yes, this is what motherhood is all about. The good and the bad, the funny and sad. Enjoying the journey in total is what matters most, even moments like this. What are some of your embarrassing moments?