Pause Please

Today I was at #6's kindergarten class where I help out on Wednesdays, my task for the day was helping the kids play a math game. At one point a little strawberry blond began sniffling and snuffling and rubbing at her stuffy little nose. Not 5 minutes earlier I had watched from across the room as my own little dear shoved his incredibly dirty fingers (drat the chopped up tires they use for playground chips at our elementary school) up his nose holes. I had walked across the room as inconspicuously as possible to hand him a Kleenex which he didn't need by the time I got to him. "I've got dirty fingers and Levi's Mom why waste a Kleenex?"

So I'm sitting supervising three intense matches of war, listening to this little thing next to me sniffle, wondering if I'll catch her cold and how I'll fit sick into all I have to do for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my new job home schooling. The little girl suddenly stands up, turns to me and says in all sincerity, "Can you pause the game I need a tissue."

It got me to thinking, wouldn't it be nice if I could hit the Mommy Pause Button?

Dinner cooking? Pause...Mommy needs to chat with a girlfriend and it's the only time we both have a minute.

Doing dishes? Pause...Mommy wants to cuddle up and read Green Eggs and Ham for the 300th time with #7.

Running errands? Pause...Mommy wants to stop at the park because it's a sunny day and swinging is so much more fun than groceries.

Paying bills? Pause...#3 needs a counseling session and a thirteen year old who'll talk to mom is priceless.

Laundry? Pause...who in their right mind wouldn't pause laundry.

Sick Mommy? Pause... Mommy needs a nap.

3:00 in the afternoon? Pause...Mommy needs a shower.

Kids in bed with parents? Pause...Daddy needs some lovin'.

OK, a pause button is an innovention of our fast paced technology driven society; it gives someone playing a game or lost in some other super important technological pastime a chance to pause, do something that has to be done then return to playing. Let's face it there will never be enough time in the day for everything we busy Mommy's feel we have to do; but, just maybe God gave us a pause button in the gift of free agency. Some things are just more important than others. Our little ones don't come with a pause button they just keep growing and growing and one day playtimes will be few and far between. Friendships don't come with a pause button yet they keep us grounded and connected to the playful fun person we really are. Husband's don't come with pause buttons and, after all, playing around with our spouse may be the most important play ever.

So, thanks snuffly, cold sharing, strawberry blond, five year old, for a life lesson, I guess you really do learn everything you need to know in kindergarten. This season of THANKSgiving and CHRISTmas I'm pausing so I can live, laugh, love and play. Because, while a technology pause gives you a break to do what you have to do so you can get back to playing, in the real world the playing happens when we pause.