ALWAYS A SILVER LINING

If I cleared the driveway, this blog
entry would not have happened.

Though we often feel like it is, our life is not perfect. We make mistakes. Some bigger than others.

More important than the mistakes we make is how we respond to them. Or, more specifically, how we respond to the mistakes of others.

On Saturday, for example, I dropped the Little One. Clearly a mistake. 

How exactly does one manage to drop their infant son? Well, the Wife, the Grandpa (in from North Carolina for a few days)  and I were getting set to bring the Little One back for a visit with his aunts and uncles. I was carrying the Little One in his car seat, which locks into a base that stays in the car. We were headed to the car when I tripped over a raised brick at the edge of our walkway.

See, the driveway was covered in recently fallen leaves, making the walkway impossible to see. I caught my toe and lurched forward into the car, dropping the car seat in the process.

Worst feeling I've had in my two-plus months of parenting experience. Looking down to see the car seat on the ground, the Little One inside startled and crying (who could blame him?) but otherwise fine. No part of him actually touched the ground since he was strapped into the seat, but still, it's the biggest fall he's experienced to date.

"Oh my God. I just dropped my son!"

The Wife rushed over and helped make sure the Little One and I were okay. She easily could have asked, "What the hell happened?" 

She easily could have yelled at me or called me a dope. She even could have busted on me for the rest of the day (hey, we've been known to laugh about funky things).

But she didn't. 

Instead, she looked at the Little One, then looked at me in all my klutzy glory and said, "He's okay. At least we know the car seat works."

With me on the verge of a freakout, she found a piece of silver lining. 

It was what I needed to catch a deep breath and realize everything was okay. 

Not perfect, but okay.