As I have been sitting at my computer working this morning, I keep noticing the white spot on the cuff of the right sleeve on my black hooded sweatshirt. The spot is of no surprise to me - I watched it happen. My five month old son spit up and it dribbled down his pajamas and ended up on me. This happens pretty much every day. Usually, a wipe of the burp cloth remedies the situation, but apparently this goop is made up of something special and it will not be removed.
A few weeks ago I went to a meeting and didn't realize I had a large spot of the same stuff on the upper portion of my chest, right where my son's face had been earlier in the day. This, friends, is the young-parent equivalent of walking into the room with your fly down. In a fit of self-conciousness, I just now checked to be sure my zipper was up. I would guess that 30% of you did at the same time - and by now that number is probably upwards of 50%.
Making a public appearance of any sort can be embarrassing when your lunch or someone else's lunch has secretly taken up residence on your apparel. Of course, the embarrassment really only comes later on when you look in the mirror and see a dribble of ketchup or a spray of Coke on your white shirt. It almost leads to a obsessive check down before entering the public arena. Clean shirt? Check. Clean pants? Check. All zippers, buttons, snaps, and otherwise in their full upright and locked positions? Check. Any stray head hairs, nose hairs, or boogies? No? Check.
We rarely pay so much attention to our attitudes and behaviors, but often experience the same regrets. We are often left wondering if we should have said what we said the way that we said it, or if maybe we should have done what we did in a different way than we had planned to do.
I believe there is a saying that says something about an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Google confirms. Google also lets me know that is a quote from Ben Franklin and links me to a page of his quotes featuring his bust on a coin with its' mouth moving.
When I think about what to say before I say it, the things I say are less stupid and sometimes they are even less offensive. When I make plans for what I plan to do, everything happens in a way that is much closer to what I had hoped. When I hold a burp cloth between my son's face and my clothes, I get puke on me way less often.
