We are never skipping church again.
Yesterday, as we dropped Sprout off at his Sunday School room, his teacher casually said,
"Oh, they're going up on stage today."
Huh...say what?
"They are?" I asked.
"Yes, we notified all the parents LAST WEEK." (The week we skipped.)
You mean to tell me my three year old is about to go on stage in front of 1,500 people and sing a song he knows nothing about? And his hair is sticking straight up from taking his stocking cap off! And...
I DIDN'T BRING MY CAMERA! Because, seriously, who brings their camera to church? Unless, of course, their child is about to go up on stage FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME! We said good-bye to Sprout as he walked away and had no clue what he was about to do.
To top it off, Cubbie's nursery was overflowing with babies, so he had to go on the waiting list. We brought him into the sanctuary with us and hoped and prayed he would be content. Luckily, during the worship time, his name/number flashed on the screen. Once I dropped him off, I was literally doing a sprint in my one inch Mary Janes to reach the sanctuary in time.
By the time I entered, all the three year olds were already on stage. I slowed my gait as to not scare anyone into thinking I was some deranged person and made my way up front. There he was, my little baby boy, front and center, and loving every minute of it. He didn't care what song they were singing or what motions they were doing with their arms. All he knew is he had the attention of everyone in the audience and he was LOVING it, jumping up and down, clapping his hands, and wearing the biggest smile ever.
AND I DIDN'T BRING MY CAMERA!!! I fought off the tears as I felt so guilty missing this chance to document such a wonderful event in my son's life. It never occurred to me to ask one of the other parents to take a picture of him for me.
Once the music stopped, they hearded the children off the stage and back to the Sunday School area. I tried hard to focus on our pastor's message when suddenly it occured to me, I have a camera! MY CAMERA PHONE!!! Oh goodness, it did not even cross my mind to use it. Double guilt! Now, any chance of paying attention to the message was gone. And I swore to myself...
We are NEVER skipping church again!
So, do YOU have any Mama Guilt? It's okay, just share/vent/get it off your mind in the comments section or blog about it and link back here.
16 comments:
What a BUMMER! Does your church do videos of services you can buy? I know ours does audio recordings, maybe they have SOMETHING so you don't have to feel quite so guilty!
I love the new blog look, by the way! They did a great job balancing out the tough with the soft!
@ Megan M.
I asked, they only film the pastor's message :-(
Thanks for the compliment on my blog!
I've learned that I MUST bring the camera everywhere we go....even grocery shopping! It's a blog mom thing to do:) Hello from sits:)
That really stinks! At least he loved being on stage.
My Mama guilt story today is about shopping w/ the kids. My family bought 100 stockings to fill with candy to give to underpriviledged kids in our town. I was at the store shopping for the candy to fill the stockings and trying to get the most bang for my buck. My son grabbed a giant bag of Reeses peanut butter cup miniatures. I told him no, it was too expensive. He looked up at me with his giant brown eyes and asked my why little boys and girls that don't have toys or stockings can't get good candy? OUCH!!! Then he said "Mommy, shouldn't other people get our best like you said?" DOUBLE OUCH!!! Talk about some serious guilt. Needless to say, I bought the bag of candy. To top it off I was so consumed by my guilt for that, I forgot to feed them lunch and the baby fell asleep in the car for her nap without eating. My 3 yr old gets served lunch at preschool (so not that big of a deal). But the baby didn't eat before her 2 hour nap. She hadn't eaten anything from 9:30-2:30. SOme SERIOUS mama guilt going on in my head!
Oh, I feel for you.. I've learned the hard way, you might say, to always carry a camera with me.. I'm sure some of the other parents would love to share their photos with you.. How could they resist taking a picture of your sweetie pie??
When my baby was in pre-brownies(I think they called it Daisys) she was supposed to recite the code or whatever. I helped her but not as much as I should have. She got up there forgot the words and burst into tears! Never have I felt like a failure as a mother!!!! Still have nightmares about that one!
The not a camera part just about killed me...Glad you're little man didn't have stage fright! Kim
Ha! I have been trying to teach my kids the song they are singing next week for TWO weeks now. Its not working!!!
Lets see... mommy guilt... oh yeah. I smacked my dearest midle child in the head with a 5 lb weight while doing The Shred. HUGE egg. ANOTHER huge egg I should say.
Total guilt.
we don't have these problems... we don't have a nursery. Actually we don't even have a bathroom!
Seriously, check it out...
http://www.goodtrueandbeautiful.com/2009/07/vanity-vanity.html
@ Sharon
I checked out your link. That is the sweetest little church I have ever seen. How neat, having such a close knit congregation!
Oh no!! I am sorry you didn't get to take any pictures!!
Mama guilt- we went to Sesame Place in October and yea everyone kid and some adults were dressed in costumes. I felt like the worst mom ever! I didn't get the memo that we were suppose to dress in our Halloween costumes : (
Dang, that's a bummer. God's way of sending a message?
But at that age, like you said, he doesn't care about being prepared. The look on his face said it all. If you ask around, you might find that someone took pictures and can send you one.
Our church has a flyer that goes out to everyone and lists the upcoming events. Not that we pay a whole lot of attention to it.
Oh no! Maybe someone took a group picture and you can still get a copy of it.
wouldn't it be your luck?!?!?!? i bring a camera, then the battery dies, and then i get a new battery and forget to press record. and camera phones, huh! i never remember to use mine.
I was screaming at my computer screen, your cell phone, your cell phone. I guess you didn't hear me?
I am racked with guilt about something all the time with my now grown children. I think they are very happy with me, but I always think I can do "something" better. I am never sure what that is. Thanksgiving, my son has a terrible cold. Why didn't I know that he had a cold prior to Thanksgiving, you know my mom ESP? It's a disease - guilt. :)
Awww...I bet someone from church has a picture you can make a copy of:)
I was always the mom that HAD the camera, but had the kid that was weirdly shy or something and had their head in their underware or was lying on the floor.
Who wants pictures of that?
I'm not bitter....
Sounds like a beautiful memory though:)
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