Living in the Moment!!

Trinnng Trinnnng….Triinnnng Trinnnnng…. Trinnng Trinnnng!!!

The phone beckoned and I dashed to get to it – weaving through my two gals who seemed interlocked in meaningless combat, and dodging the third, who held a glass of orange juice precariously in one hand while juggling an open book in the other. In my mind, the mad dash was worth it, if it meant I could hear the voice of any adult who could restore my sanity.

As I think back on that day, I recall the peaceful smile on my face when my gorgeous three hugged me “Good morning” and over breakfast proclaimed me to be the “Best Ma in the world’, the proud moment when my 6-year old completed reading a 55-page chapter book, the gratitude I felt when my 4-year old helped me fold the laundry, and the pure joy as my 2-year old hugged me, saying and I quote: “ma, you so priddy”.

Needless to say after coloring, painting, play-dough, reading, debating between Teletubbies and Arthur, refereeing 4 screaming matches, dealing with spilt yogurt & spit-up banana, and a dozen arguments (which I lost hands-down) with my 2-year old, the prospect of sharing pleasantries with DH, a friend, or even a telemarketer seemed exhilarating!!!

Finally, I got to the phone and in a made-up composed voice greeted the unknown caller with all the love in the world. It wasn’t DH..darn..(he has learnt from past experience to never ever call me at 6:30 in the evening, as my first words usually are: “Haven’t you left work yet?”)

It wasn’t any of my best buddies (one is vacationing in Canada and the others were probably in similar situations themselves). It wasn’t even a neighbor who wanted to send her child over to my already over-populated home on a play-date. It was in fact – A TELEMARKETER!!

Poor man!! He was so taken aback by my musical greeting and had his hopes all raised thinking he was actually going to make a sale. In a newly-found enthusiastic fervor, he announced that I was the chosen 1 among 1000 lucky winners who were being offered an absolutely out-of-the world deal (literally) that I would absolutely die for.

Hmm… Now he had my complete attention.

Had I won a free trip around the world? Perhaps one of those sooper-dooper, hi-fi space travel deals? Hey I would have even welcomed an Ipod or a Wii. But naah, no such luck, although what he had to offer was the ultimate – a sure shot way of getting me back in the moment.

In a friendly, gently persuading baritone, he said: “Ma’am we’re offering you a special pre-construction offer for a grave and recommend that you book yours at the earliest”!!!

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttt!!!! My inner voice screamed…

Did I hear that right? Did he actually say “grave” – you know the final resting place for some. Clearly he was clueless of my religious background, leave alone my zest and plans to live for a long, long time. We were barely close to paying up the mortgage on our house and saving for 3 college tuitions and here I was expected to contemplate a no-money down offer for a grave!! How morbid!

At that very moment, snapshots of my life flashed before my eyes. All the unpleasant ways I’d ended calls from Verizon, the number of times I’d slammed the phone down on Dish and the numerous occasions where I feigned knowledge of the English language. I was so ashamed!

I politely excused myself from the conversation, saying that I wasn’t interested in the offer. No no he didn’t need to call me back, I was quite sure – I didn’t care much for a grave.

As I put the phone down, I turned and saw fresh orange juice on the recently-mopped floor, tears rolling down my 4-year old’s cheek as she tried to escape from the bat my 2-year old was chasing her with, and I said a quiet “Thank You” to God for reminding me to - LIVE IN THE MOMENT!



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