Mad Hatter Party

Did you make it out to the most recent Relief Society activity? {If you didn't, you were sincerely missed} As I contemplated the words to describe the evening, I found myself making a mental list of words that popped in my head; Relaxing, refreshing, comforting, enlightening, and....silly.

We sat around highly adorably decorated (say that 3 times fast) tables filled with all sorts of scrumptious treats. We discussed life as soon-to-be parents, parents and empty nesters and it was such a fun opportunity to get to know each other a little bit better and to laugh at each others funny experiences and creative hats. We each picked a question and out flowed sincere answers to fun and sometimes hard questions. I loved every minute of it and was surprised to see how quickly the hour past. Who knew woman could talk so much?

 

Example of a question that popped up: What's your most "Idiotic Mother" moment? I contemplated the question as others told their memorable moments and although I am not blessed to be a Mother yet, I remembered a time that was not a shining moment for myself.

The year was 2004 and I was a nanny for 6 month old twins. Mason had a hard time sleeping at night and I was getting quite exhausted from being up numerous times a night to comfort not only him but his sister Maddison. It grew really old, really fast. I heard from his Mother that Mason liked the sound of water so out of desperation one night I took him down to the massive salt water fish tank and rocked him to sleep. It worked for a couple of nights, until he realized how awesome the exotic fish were and soon he was too over stimulated by the fish. I needed a new plan.

A few nights later as I walked around the house, with frazzled hair, dark circles under my eyes and visions of my pillow in mind, I decided to take Mason out on the porch. It was a warm night and the creek water trickled down the mountain. Wrapped in his fuzzy blue blanket, he quickly surrendered and fell asleep. Victory was mine.

Weeks passed and I found myself out on the porch more often than not and I started to feel as if I might have put myself in a bind. Not only was it early winter and near freezing, but he was growing dependent on the creek. He was content as could be as I shivered out in the cold in my thin pajamas. I stared down at this peaceful little baby and wondered how we were going to get through the next couple of months together....

No sooner had I realized that he was in a deep enough sleep for me to retreat indoors, when I saw something from the corner of my eye. I looked to the right and there within 20 feet from the porch was a cougar/mountain lion/potential eater of nannies and babies. The animal looked at us and continued on its way and I ran into the house, with the now startled and crying baby.

We never sat out on the porch again, nor did I get much sleep after that. But I did learn a valuable lesson: Buy a baby sleep aid book, or risk getting eaten by a cougar.

What I took from this Relief Society activity is that everyone has a rough day, week or even period where they feel like they just can't read that same childrens book one more time, or watch that obnoxious movie for the 106th time, or listen to their in laws explain (again) the "proper" way to cook a roast. This too shall pass, and it can either be something we complain about, or something that we choose to rise above and learn from. There are so many sisters in our ward that have gone through, or are going through the same scenarios and are there to help and be a listening ear.

The video shown at the end of the activity sums it up perfectly. It is beautiful and helps us to have a different perspective. 

Thanks to everyone that participated with this activity, we look forward to seeing everyone next month.