Who Crawled Into Your Cup?
Today I was filling my cup spiritually, physically and mentally by showing up to yoga class. This has been an odd week for me with one child home for Spring Break, the other still in school. I have felt lopsided. Regular schedule out of whack. So I needed some order, some cup refilling. With the hubby away for the next four nights, I hired a sitter, grabbed my water bottle and headed to hot yoga.
Earlier in the day, before yoga, the kids and I colored eggs. And I have to say every year, I love this activity. I let them go crazy, tons of cups with colored dye all over the table. This year they got into it even more than in years past, experimenting with the colors. It was a proud creative parenting moment. Proud because they were the creative ones, I didn’t have to be the one forcing the activity, or the only one doing the activity, they were in to it.
My cup full of joy
Later in yoga class something out of order, off routine happened. Right after our fourth pose, just as the sweat was dribbling down my back a yogini spoke up and said, Someone is banging on the front door and it looks like they really need to come in. I couldn’t see the front door, but I could her a loud male voice, not angry loud, just loud.
The instructor went to check it out and came back asking if there was a Jane Doe in class. Jane stood up immediately and went to the lobby, hubby John Doe followed. We all got back to our business of sweating, centering and breathing.
Soon hubby came back, but wife was still in the lobby. I could see a portion of the lobby and snuck a look to find that a child was sitting with her mama, Jane Doe. The rest of the 90 minutes went on with hubby back in class and mom sitting in the lobby with her child. I don’t know the story, I just know a little girl wanted her mama right when her mama was doing something just for her.
That happens though, right? That happens to all of us. If it happened to me, if the sitter showed up to class with my children what would have I done? Well, our sitter is only twelve and doesn’t drive so if something were truly wrong, an adult would have gotten me and of course I would have headed to the lobby leaving my mat and towel behind.
Not knowing the particulars, I felt for the mom. Hubby got to come back and finish class while she held her daughter. She looked so calm, so unruffled when class was over and I caught eyes with her in the lobby.
Maybe the little bit of class that she got was enough. Maybe holding her daughter was all she needed right then too. For it can work like that sometimes…filling our cup can happen in the moment we are holding our child, being where we need to be. Dying Easter eggs.
by J.G. McGlothern