My Friend Mel....

{ This is not a photo challenge photo }

{{ Oh and if you look closely enough and notice a misspelling...That was for my benefit - I am the queen of sloppy spelling!! }}

I don't really know where to start..... Last night was far and away the most challenging Body Back class to date. It was hot, humid and we'd just had an insane, record making, news breaking, dust storm the night before.  It was also a traveling class and my fellow mamas seemed to be dropping like flies. One mom even needed to hit the ER on her way home from extreme dehydration and overexertion. She was a "teammate" of mine last night, along with my friend Mel. The three of us made up "Team Pigtails". We are all three on our second session of Body Back and had deemed ourselves the Cheerleaders for the group. After this HOT and emotional and slightly scary evening, I did not sleep well.

I called out to Mel before I attempted to hit the sack last night for help. I was already unmotivated to go to Stroller Strides the following morning.  Even before I really knew Mel, in brief encounters at Stroller Strides, I knew that we were kindred spirits. That and she has this very Zen quality about her which my hyperactive, overly competitive personality needs more of.  The more I get to know Mel the funnier I find it that without every really spending time together I just knew we were meant to be friends!  I promised to make it to Stroller Strides in the morning and went to bed.

I tossed and turned all night. I had night sweats and leg cramps and a headache. I tried to make it all better with water and Gatorade, but it was a long and restless night. When Lula finally woke me up at 7:30 this morning I knew I only had an hour to get us all dress, fed and out the door if I was going to make it to Stroller Strides.  I was feeling very accountable to Mel, because I had promised I too would make it and I was also accountable to Wendy, who was following me today since she'd never been to our new indoor location before.  Here comes the perfect storm.....

If you're reading this and you are a mom you know that when you have all the time in the world, the children eat, drink, dress, and comply.  There are rarely any hiccups and you easily make it out the door, but when you are under pressure, no one wants to wear what you picked out - breakfast becomes World War III, shoes, and toys and sippy cup go missing. The phone rings, the toast burns, the blender explodes.... you catch my drift. I hate more than anything the stress of getting us out the door. I don't want to start the day yelling, frustrated or angry.  I knew at 7:30 that it would be one of those mornings, and I am sure that my starting the day knowing it was going to be a bad morning is precisely why it was a bad morning!

So I am dressed, I have breakfast on the table for the girls, I make my coffee, get my Thyroid Meds and My Adderall and set them next to my iced coffee. I run around looking for one of the girls shoes, I find my sneakers behind the couch, I get snacks and as I fly back and forth shout, "Eat! We are going to be late!"  Now keenly aware that Wendy is going to be sitting in front of my house any minute I get more and more frantic.... So.... Here is where actually taking the Adderall vs. setting it on the counter might have helped.

Now *knock*knock*knock* It's Sugar, Wendy's daughter. "Hi! My Mom's going to follow you today."

  "Okay sweetie, tell her I'll be right out!!"

Ahhhhhhh.............

Swoop down on the kids - LETS GO!  I get them in the car, gather a few last minute things, and hop in the car myself........barefoot. That's right, I didn't even stop to put my sneakers on.  It's about halfway to Stroller Strides when it dawns on me...I need coffee.....

SH*T! 

My Coffee and Thyroid medication and Adderall are on the kitchen counter.

Damn - this is going to be a LONG morning!

I text Mel because she will understand and get the humor that I forgot my medication, like need to take in order to function both physically and mentally medication. I forgot my coffee, again a "must have" to function both physically and mentally but.... I remembered the lollipops to appease the girls with at Stroller Strides.

Okay.... Here is just further proof that Mel and I are connected in some cosmic way.  Mel left me a Facebook message this morning that I "must" go to Stroller Strides today because she had a gift for me. She had a great laugh when she got my text about my coffee and meds. Upon arriving at Stroller Strides, she hands me this darling mason jar filled with iced coffee and a sweet note for my bucket. It was simply too perfect, right down to the mason jar.  Mel had no way of knowing that I drink my iced coffee from a mason jar every morning! 

I am so very fortunate to have friends like Mel. Stroller Strides might truly have saved my life. Before Stroller Strides I was isolated and somewhat alone. My girls and I didn't get out a whole lot. My entire world turned around when I joined this amazing group of women. Women like Mel who can, with this simplest act of kindness turn a bad, stressed out, angry mom into a happy smiling grateful mom.  I am so very lucky to have Mel and the mams like her. My life is better, fuller and richer because of each and everyone of them!

This little afternoon snack is exactly why my day is now 1000% better!

Thank You Mel. Some days I truly don't know what I'd do without you!