Switching out of Mommy Mode

It happened a couple weeks ago when we were in Maine with Taber's mom. I was in early pregnancy survival mode, going through the motions of each day but still feeling nauseous, tired and blah-ish. Everything we did wore me out and this night was no exception. After a long day with the kids we finally made it back to our hotel around 9 o'clock and got the girls settled in bed. I couldn't wait to go to sleep, 9:30 was pushing it for my first trimester bedtime. I washed my face, took out my contacts and was brushing me teeth getting ready to go night night when Taber walked in with a devious little smile on his face.

"I just got back from the lobby and they're doing Karaoke down there!"

"cool." I said and kept brushing my teeth.

"We should go, you LOVE karaoke!"

"yeah, 22 year old me who didn't have 2 kids and wasn't pregnant LOVED karaoke. Old me is tired. Goodnight."

"Okay, but I'm just saying, my mom is here with the kids, when do we ever get the chance to go out and do something crazy like this?" And then he went in the bathroom and closed the door leaving that thought for me to chew on.

I stared at my tired washed out face in the mirror, "You're going to be 30 this year." My subconscious reminded me. "Better live up your 20's while you still can."

"Fine." I thought, and started putting my contacts back in. When Taber came out of the bathroom he was surprised to see I had already re-applied my make-up and was ready to "carpe diem" or (carpe noche, whatever.)

We got into the lounge bar area where the Karaoke was going on and I had my doubts. Small crowd, slow country-ish songs, looked a little boring to me. Still, my contacts were in and my makeup was fresh so I grabbed the song book and started looking for something to sing. I settled on "Ironic" by Alanis Morrissette because It just felt right to embrace the 90's at that moment.

When the music came on and I started to sing, something happened. It was like the music shut down my tired mommy mode and unleashed my inner diva! I sang my little heart out and the more I sang the more energized I felt. I honestly couldn't remember the last time I felt that good, that late at night. When I got done I snatched up the song book ready to go at it again. While I waited my turn I cheered on the other singers like they were my old friends. I stood up and danced with the 4 dudes who sang YMCA, and you better believe Taber and I pulled out our old country moves when someone sang "Save a horse, Ride a Cowboy." It was a riot!! Singing and dancing and cheering and laughing! I sang a few more songs and Taber and I sang "Lean on Me" together and we were just having ourselves a good old time.

It seemed like we became buddies with everyone in the room and before I knew it it was almost midnight. I picked one final song, "Any Man of Man" by Shania Twain and I gotta say, it was a crowd pleaser! The whole room was singing along and I was belting it out at the top of my lungs. That was the golden moment of the night for me. I'm a lot of different things at any given moment, but right then I wasn't the mommy, or the pregnant girl or the teacher or the housekeeper, I was just fun loving, carefree, un-inhibited Becca, and it felt good to be me. : )

Kudos and smiles and "great jobs!" followed my performance and then Taber and I said our goodbyes and called it a night. (best to leave on a high note ; ) As we walked back to our room I was still riding the high of our exciting evening. I kept saying, "that was SO fun! Wasn't that fun? Man that was fun." Taber smiled and squeezed my hand in agreement. When we finally got settled in bed we still whispered for another half hour plotting out an epic karaoke party for my 30th birthday bash. (yeah it's still 4 months away but you can never be too prepared...) At last I fell asleep with dreams of me 7 months pregnant in a fabulous black sequined dress and a sparkly birthday crown, Karaoke-ing like a true diva with all my friends. I was so glad I put my contacts back in and accepted Taber's spontaneous invitation for fun that night. If I hadn't I might not have remembered that even though I mostly run in mommy mode these days, old Becca still has plenty of feisty kick left in her ; )