Temper Tantrums, Fantasy Football, and Life Lessons...Oh My!

Goodness gracious, what a day! Sweetie is once again teething, which seems to always make her incredibly crabby. Today was an eye opening experience as my usually sweet and even-tempered, almost 2-year-old sweetie threw one of the worst temper tantrums yet. You see my sweetie will be 22-months old at the end of the month and she still only has 7 teeth in full with 4 molars and another bottom tooth on it's way. I would probably be grumpy too, but let's face facts...life isn't always fair and sometimes in life we are asked to do things that we don't necessarily want to do or feel like doing (i.e. laundry most of the time for me, but it's a must).

I was finishing up my errands when I made my last stop in Barnes & Noble to get the final item on my list...fantasy football magazines for my husband who is currently serving a 6-month deployment in Iraq. Now, I would have just given up and taken sweetie home when she started acting up, but I was under "desperate" instructions to get the magazines today and ship them to him by priority mail so that he would have enough time to check them out in time for his fantasy football draft. (*Note* He owes me big after this one! Since when did Fantasy Football become such an emergency? ;) ... *end note) So anyway, I proceeded to grab the first 3 Fantasy Football magazines that I could find, all the while trying to calm sweetie down. Nothing was working, and I was becoming increasingly flustered by the second. It was at that point that I stopped for a second, counted backwards from 10, and proceeded to the counter with my purchases. Sweetie seems to calm down soon after I do unless she's really having discomfort or is extremely tired. Today I think we hit the jackpot with both!

Anyway, to make a long story short, by the time I made it up to the counter to pay for hubby's magazines we had a great game of peekaboo going and sweetie was happy again. The gentleman at the counter rang up my magazines while occasionally shooting a few weird looks my way. I finally asked him why he was looking at me so funny when he become extremely embarrassed. He told me that he had watched me come in the store with sweetie in tow, pick out my purchases, calm sweetie down (after first collecting myself), and then head up to the counter with sweetie smiling and laughing.

He asked me how I get through day to day life with a toddler "considering my situation." I laughed and said that it takes patience and sometimes a good cry, but I get through every day just the same...one at a time. I then told him that at least I have an end in site unlike others, at which point he looked at me funny again. I told him that my husband will be home in less than 90 days and I would have at least some extra help with my sweetie. He looked embarrassed again for a brief second before he spoke again. Then he ever so politely and gently said to me, "honey, I don't know if you realize it or not, but the 'situation' that I was talking about was because of your physical disability. I see that you wear leg braces and you walk a little different."

At first I wasn't sure what to say, but then it came to me, and with a smile on my face I said, "well today my leg braces and my walk aren't my disability...today, it's a toddler who is tired and teething...the same 'disability' as other parents" and with that, he handed me the bag, and I went on my way. I stopped as I got to the door and looked back, the same gentleman was watching me again, so I said, "As a military spouse who's husband has been on deployment a lot lately and a parent with a physical disability, I'm forced to take things as they come and make adaptations where needed and furthermore..."

The gentleman stopped me in mid-sentence and said, "Honey, I think you do just fine with your daughter. Your husband should be proud of how you handle yourself. Furthermore, the Navy should be proud of you too. You set aside your own personal disabilities to take care of your daughter by yourself while you're husband is off defending our country. That's a noble sacrifice you're making." At that moment I beamed with pride...not only for myself, but for my husband, my family, and the United States Navy. They have all helped me to become the independent person that I am today not only for myself, but for my daughter, my husband, and the United States Navy.

As I drove away from the store, I thought to myself...even though I have a physical disability...I don't always think about them. Instead, I carry on with my life as though I am an able-bodied parent. Then I realized that even though I do have limitations...sweetie and I are going to be just fine by ourselves in California until hubby returns. ;)