Loving the Undesirable

Confession time. There are some things about my children that are rather... undesirable. Not cute. Not endearing. And sometimes downright embarrassing. There, I said it. I hope that God doesn't strike me down for that, after all, they are wonderfully and perfectly made in His image. But I just have to question why human perfection and Godly perfection have to differ so drastically.

You know the moments and behaviors I am talking about if you have even one child. The ones that are almost assuredly going to manifest in public... in front of people that you admire... or people that you are trying to get to know.... yeah, you know the ones. The event that led to this particular article took place recently in a doctors office. There we were, a portrait of a well-rounded family (I of course, being the roundest), the four of us, me with the children in tow, just walking into the doctor's office. and then.... one of my children decide that they are going to channel a mentally challenged person and limp-drag their feet as they duck-walked through the lobby. So then I get the sad eyed expressions of the parents waiting, as though they are sympathetic of my situation, me, pregnant with three kids, one who is obviously (to them at least) mentally slow. Oy vey. Really kid??

This is not the first time, or only symptom of weirdness I have gotten to experience in public either. There are, of course, the times that one or more child has gone up to random strangers and asked horrifying questions, or sat in their laps, or got close enough to kiss... I have to say that more than once I have been humiliated, and completely without a logical explanation to give. Why do they do this to me?? I swear I think that it is all a conspiracy to take me out at an early age... like by 28, perhaps? I already have enough silver hair to weave a lovely sweater with at this point... so unfair.

The struggle here is learning to accept the embarrassment, something I'm not sure I can do. I mean, I can tell myself that I will probably not ever see these people again, and if I do, I doubt they have the memory capacity to say, oh that is that lady with the weird kids. So the next time my child walks up to a lady in the grocery store and starts barking and panting in her face, I should just, you know, grab them and walk away quickly... right??