You are braver than you think

There are all these things I'm worried about in life. One of them being how I'm gonna deal with things like my kids throwing up all over the place.

Last night, I was babysitting my nephew. I heard him crying. I came in to find him lying in a halo of barf. And he was still acting like he was gonna throw up more. All this while lying on his back.

I am amazed how well I took it. Normally, barfing would horrify me. I'd feel like throwing up myself. But instead, I quickly sat him up and started wiping him up. I got a towel to help me with that. His pj's were gross. I decided the most important thing was to get him out of the mess. So I quickly unzipped his pj's, let him step out and carried him to the bathroom.

Not that I want to be disgusting, but I could feel the throw up on my hands. I am sure you are reading this ready to throw up yourself just thinking about it but amazingly, I was OK! I took him to the bathroom and washed him off a bit. Then I put him in a clean towel and called him mom.

My sister ended up having to clean up the mess. I am definitely happy I didn't have to do that. It was really, really disgusting.

My point in all of this is that we are braver than we think. I am also nicer than I think. I'd have thought I'd only be able to think of myself being disgusted but instead I was only thinking of taking the best care of my nephew possible.

Thank G-d we live in a time where we don't often have the opportunity to do selfless things. So we don't know really how we'd act in those situations. Parenting, I'm sure, is especially important because it forces you to think of others all the time.

Doing something selfless for someone else is one of the best feelings in this world. It actually might be the best feeling that exists.

That might be why it's important to volunteer. You're not doing it for them. You're doing it for yourself. A little screwed up, but that's how I see it. By doing something that is for someone else, you make yourself feel great.