my unexpected maternal instinct

I’m much better at telling a story in person, than I am at expressing it in writing, but I’m going to attempt to tell one of the craziest stories of my life since becoming a mother.

We live in an upstairs apartment and so of course we have a super strong baby gate installed. The gate is always closed. Always. Well, except this one day. I was headed into the other room with my Mac Book Pro in hand and Tyler was going to hang with Zander while I did some work. Zander had disappeared from view and Tyler asked me what he was doing. I looked around and happened to notice that the baby gate was open. I don’t quite know what went through my head at this point, but somehow I threw my computer and frantically ran to the stairs. I literally dove on the ground and grabbed Zander perched at the top of the stairs ready to dive head first down them. My heart was beating out of my chest, Tyler was freaking out and Zander (of course) had no idea that something really bad had almost happened.

Once we both calmed down, Tyler’s first assessment of situation came, “At least we know you love our son more than your mac.” It’s true. I passed the mother test. Now I can hold that over Zander’s head for the rest of his life. In 20 years I’ll say, “I once threw my beloved computer so that I could save your life, and you can’t even spend Christmas with your mother?”