Moment of Reality

So I've been impressed with many deep, inspiring situations here lately and I've had a hard time expressing the scope of my change in perspective. But this morning, I got a good swallow of it.

It was a beautiful moment where I was reading aloud to my classroom (my kids) and they were engaged in, and enjoying the delightful story of Madeline. I saw number 4 put a pony bead in her mouth and I gently discouraged such behavior. Four pairs of eyes were glued to the book and I thought to myself, "what a wonderful mother I am!"

Just then, number 4 let out an ear-piercing yowl. She had removed the bead from her mouth and attempted another inviting passage; her nose. It inevitably got stuck. Now is a good time to tell you that sometimes I suffer from inappropriate laughter. It always comes at the wrong time and I am often deeply compassionate to a situation and yet exhibit the complete opposite.

This was just such an occasion.

I held the flashlight so her daddy (who had been sleeping on the couch during the story) could shove tweezers up that slimy tunnel and retrieve the sparkly bead. I was laughing so hard I had to bury my head in my elbow and try to hold the flashlight steady. For about 30 seconds, I realized that if we couldn't get it out, we would have to visit the medical center and I didn't want to make introductions for this purpose, but I got over that fear pretty fast.

With his face looking keenly up her nose, my hubby asked her to farmer blow. She did. The inappropriate laughter got worse. If my face was covered in snot, I'd be furious, but he just continued on. A few more tweezes and blows later, the bead flew out. She screamed in absolute jubilation and complete fear. I'm not sure exactly what went through her little head, but maybe it was a little bit wiser minus one pink bead.