in that moment

There is a moment that comes as a mama - an unexpected moment - one you don't see coming. They don't teach you about it in birthing classes - rarely do you read any "parenting" books on it - but it arrives nonetheless for I would dare say all moms. It happens fast and many times it is over before you have time to process it. What is this glorious moment? The moment all mothers experience? Got it figured out yet?

Our bedrooms are carpeted. Our living room (much to my dismay and due only to Jamey's wishes) is carpeted. The hallway is not.
Let me set the scene for you. We are sometime in the wee hours of the morning - that time I have not seen much of, in oh - about the past 3 years or so. But no matter how long it has been - and really mine are pretty good sleepers once they get out of the midnight buffet stage - a mama can go from a dead sleep to up and ready for action in .0000001 of a second. Yes - that is a scientific number and yes it has been tested. Don't believe me? Ask a mom. Little bare feet hit our hardwood floors during the midnight hours as they exit the bedroom and run - sprint - to our room. I can hear the first foot hit the floor no matter how long I have been asleep. How can I do this? The sound of feet on that hard wood floor is louder to my mama ears than any alarm could ever be.
This time it is Ansley. It is rarely Ansley. Ansley goes to bed when she is tired and sleeps there all night. Stephen however is not so likely to stay in the bed appreciating his warm soft bed and pillow. But tonight it is Ansley. "Mama - Mama - there is water in my bed" If I wasn't moving fast yet, the fact that my 7 year old - sleeping on the TOP bunk has just told me there was water in her bed - I was moving at light speed by then. So in the dark - blind from no contacts - I move quickly to the kids room.

Thoughts: Has someone gotten sick? The stomach virus has landed here. I just know it. Who will take off tomorrow? I can't take off - Jamey will have to. Is he done with exams? I wonder if we all will get it. If I have to call in I wonder if I can go get some work to do here first before Jamey has to go in. Surely there is no actual WATER in her bed. I mean, that is just not possible, right? It is not raining, is it?

Your brain can think faster than your feet move. But I arrive in the kids room and see Stephen sound asleep on the bottom bunk. As I am not quite sure how much, ahem, weight is allowed on the ladder up to the top bunk I do my best to reach up and feel around in the sheets and blankets for this "water".
I find no water.
"Where is the water, Ansley?" I ask. I look down and she is sound asleep in the bottom bunk with her brother.
Of course.
No water, No stomach virus, No problem.
Back to sleep/ 

Maybe....maybe 60 seconds have passed. And I crawl back into bed with the man that I love.
And we all four sleep until morning.