My three-year-old is at the point where she is dropping her naps. I work from home, so nap times are the times when I get everything done! Lately, we have been spending more and more time at the indoor playgrounds near our area so the girls can play and I can get some work done.
We were at one of our favorite local spots the other day, and I was sitting on the ground playing with our baby while my toddler was playing on the play set. Another mom looked to me and said, “That must be your little one. She looks just like you.” Yes, she is mine. We both have curly red hair and hear that often.
She seemed somewhat embarrassed as she continued, “Well, I think she is very pretty … she is just so beautiful … and, well, I think that you are absolutely beautiful, too.”
I was stunned. And embarrassed (compliments make me uncomfortable) … and then my three-year-old got a nosebleed. I mumbled a thank you and tried to seem gracious, but I was still in shock and had to run to tend to my little one who was about to bleed all over the play area.
Did she really just say that? Had she said I was beautiful? Surely, this hadn’t happened just now. Questions swirled through my mind as I tried to process what had just happened. A stranger had the courage to say that I was beautiful. Maybe she says it to everyone, and it didn’t mean much to her, but those few words settled deeply into my heart. Being six months pregnant in sweats and a t-shirt with my curly, frizzy hair in its usual messy bun, I felt anything but beautiful. Yet somehow she saw past the mess, and she touched my heart.
This poor, dear woman probably thought that I was totally weirded out, or worse – I ran off to deal with the nosebleed with what likely seemed like lightning speed – but nothing could be further from the truth. That night, I cried thinking of her words and how much they meant coming from a stranger. I had never imagined I could be so deeply touched by someone I don’t know. We, as moms, should do this more – compliment and encourage one another just because. You never know just how much she may need to hear it.
