Time To Be A Big Girl

by Kris Pitcher

"Sitting like a big girl," she crooned as her little body rocked on the waiting room chair. Her mother corralled two boys while retrieving the knit cap the baby had thrown from the stroller. I watched from across the room...

The girl's pig-tails bounced back and forth and as her mother was distracted she slid from the chair. Her hands followed its rails, then she crouched on the floor just in front of it. With fingers spread wide she palmed the tile floor, little fingers following the grout lines. She put her hands out in front of her and then made a circle on the floor all around her until they met the rails of the chair.

She scooted back up and smiled and said, "Sitting like a big girl." Mom was having a conversation with the oldest boy who was maybe six. She was explaining that indeed he could not have a cup of coffee, or a capuccino, from the machine in the waiting room of the tire store. She went on to tell him he was the oldest boy there and was acting like a baby.

I listened from across the room...through all this chaos mom had one hand on or near the girl. As she'd sat her down, she had taken her tiny white cane with the red ball on the end and attached it to the baby's stroller.

When the dad came into the store the young mother looked at him with eyes that could only say, "help me". Three kids in diapers, a six year old who wants to drink coffee and a darling little pig-tailed girl trying to navigate the world without her sight.

And I thought my life was complicated...I think about this young mother on the days when I don't want to drag myself out of bed to do my cardio. I think about her when I'm sitting on the couch trying to decide if I want to wait until the commercial to pack my gym bag for the next day, or just do it in the morning.

We all juggle a lot, some juggle a lot more. Look around you and think of the last excuse you made...silly isn't it? Be a big girl!