The Best Beauty Salon...EVER

I'd never been to a beauty salon...until my birthday last week.

I had just cuddled up on the couch with my laptop. I felt relieved that MaryAnn was finally down for a nap...and pressure to make the most of those minutes...the clock was ticking. I was planning to post the blog entry that would announce our new www.presentparenting.org website. It felt like a monumental moment for me. After years of stirring up ideas and hypotheses, I was finally ready to share. Excitement welled up inside me and out through my fingertips as I tapped away.

30 seconds later, I heard giggling in the vicinity...and footsteps. I peered above my screen just in time to see a toy mailbox planted at my feet with three cards in it. The backs of three girls scampered away up to the bathroom.*more giggling*

I hesitated...should I accept their energy? Or block it and get back to my important task at hand?

Their giggles rang through my mind. I smiled. I reached into the mailbox and opened card #1. It was written by my 4-yr-old. Random letters filled the inside. Card #2 came from my 5-yr-old. It said, "COME TO THE MOMOSOG."  Interesting. Good thing there was a card #3. 

"Come to the salon in the kids bathroom. Come as soon as you get the card. Love, Kirsten, Allison, and Cienna   See you there."

Decision time. Beauty Salon or Pyramid Post? For a former jock/drummer and future brain scientist wanna-be who now has 4 girls...this was a very challenging decision. I hesitated again and noticed my insides trying to process the conflicting issue at hand. 

It was my birthday, so I could rightfully pick whatever I wanted and feel guilt free. Correct?  Actually, even on birthdays...it depends on which part of my brain I'm using. If I respond only to my own stomach churning and fail to pause and consider the needs of all parties involved in order to the make the best decision in that moment, the issue would remain unresolved and guilt might be one of the consequences.

So, I paused and asked my prefrontal cortex to take an honest look at the situation. 

Then I decided that my birthday was the perfect time for my first spa experience. I set my lap top aside. As I ascended the stairs, I consciously called for my mind to come along, too (because my lower brain wasn't convinced yet), so my children and I could benefit from a fully present mother. (I knew if I left my brain back at my computer, we'd all have a 'half-there' experience...and our brains would take note and have to cope somehow...I knew because we've done that at least a million times.)   

I drew on powers beyond my own as I knocked on the entrance door. 

As my girls greeted me with, "Welcome to the our salon!" in lavish accents, my heart swelled and I was there...fully.

I felt water splash from my companion's toes to mine in the soothing foot soak...

 

I breathed in the smell of fresh polish as I received a full personalized manicure by small hands struggling to stay steady (with free nail-drying included).

My toes were stretched beyond prior capacity during my spectacular pedicure.

And at THIS salon, the hostesses even let you paint their nails! So posh.

My girls filled me with their love and energy in that salon and when the memory comes back days later (and most definitely in years to come), that same energy flashes through my mind and zings through my whole body...again...and again. 

Being pampered by the minds of my children...It's truly a beautiful experience.

PS. Our giggling woke MaryAnn up early from her nap...so The Pyramid had to wait. It was posted at 10:16 Central Standard Time later that night.