Life Skills Report Card                           Parenting 2.0

     "Mom, HURRY!" My daughter screamed, "Simba's stuck!"  Assuming the role of the "calm" parent we are required to be in such circumstances, while simultaneously fearing the worst, I walked quickly into her bedroom.  There was her ten week old kitten, head inside the wrought iron magazine basket....body on the outside, with a one inch opening surrounding his two inch neck.

     Grateful though I was initially to not find Simba on the edge of the roof - suffice to say neighbors have seen sufficient rescue cars at my residence over the years - I immediately recalled being my daughter's same age and waking up one morning to find my own kitten's neck stuck under a swinging door.  At the time, it was the most disastrous thing I'd ever witnessed; my kitten's head was literally in the dining room...his body in the kitchen.  My father was the hero who restored calm that morning.  How was it exactly, I wondered next, that without a class or training I'd inherited his role?
     Doomed while Simba's brief life appeared, and clueless though I was how to free him, something in my soul reassured me that the same miracle of physics which enabled Simba's oversized head to enter an undersized hole...would enable him to exit.  So..while my highly distressed teen continued to whimper in doubt and dismay, I spoke soothingly to Simba and turned the basket gently to what I prayed would be an easier exit route.  I might as well have struck him.  Simba's wails joined Alexa's and I moved from soul speak to wondering whether petroleum jelly or a welder's fire was appropriate for working a miracle in reverse.  Just as I feared I was not only miserably failing as a hero but in fact breaking my daughter's kitten's sweet little neck - the miracle occurred - Simba was free.
     A week post trauma I have the luxury to reflect and consider where, in fact, I learned to be the hero in the scenario.  What exactly happened between being a teen and a middle aged mother that enabled me to respond with such optimism, calm, can do attitude and presence?  What comes to mind is a contest one of the news stations ran where they asked people to describe being a mother in six words.  The winning phrase was "Heart walking around outside your body."  That does it for me...