Linsey, her husband and five kids live in Draper, Utah. She loves being a Mom, Wife and Hairdresser. She has a healthy obsession with Diet Dr. Pepper, celebrity gossip, shoes, purses and hair dye. If her kids are occupied and she isn’t tweeting, facebooking or blogging, she can be found in her family room, sitting on the couch kicking teenage boys’ trash on XBox Live as “Mom of the Dead”. And according to her husband and 4 sons, that makes her awesome. www.leavingourmark.blogspot.com

I’m blessed to have five beautiful children. So I am exactly five times more spacey and scatterbrained than before I had kids. Which translates to “Crazy Lady”.

Some days I run errands in sweats and t-shirts. No make-up, my hair messy and dirty. But a few weeks ago, I had errands to run. It was hair wash day, so my hair was clean, perfectly coiffed. Make-up? Check. I even passed over flip-flop’s and wore real shoes. I felt pretty. Confident. Fabulous. As I headed out the door, I realized I forgot a bra. I was already dressed and didn’t want to take the time to undress and redress. I thought the baggy shirt would make it okay. If only a bra were all I forgot that day… if only.

First stop, Kohl’s. After 30 minutes of shopping I go the register and strike up conversation with the girl. She gave me a strange look then looked away, never to make eye contact again. I checked my nose when I got in the car. Maybe I had a booger. A booger. If only.

Next stop, the gas station I hit up every single day to refill my Diet Dr. Pepper. I walked in and greeted the normal day shift crowd. “Hi John! Hi Brenda! How are you guys?” I greeted them cheerfully. They looked at me, eyebrows furrowed and said “Hi Linsey…?”. Was that a question? Again with the lack of eye contact.  As I walked out I glanced behind me. Perhaps I had toilet paper hanging off my shoe or worse… my bum. If only.

Next, the bank. I walk in and all eyes are suddenly on me. I say, to whoever is listening, “I need to open a new account”. They looked at me and look away quickly waving me over to a sitting area. I sit down with three gentlemen and ask how they are doing. Like I always do. Why was everyone avoiding eye contact today? No booger, no toilet paper, surely they didn’t notice my lack of bra, so what was it?

I’m called back and as I sit down, I start throwing out way too many words. The whole time I’m talking, the woman is leaning over trying to interrupt me. I finally stop. She looks around, leans across the desk and starts whispering. She is struggling to find words. “You… um…. so… your, uh… um…”. She points at me. She points at her shoulders and back at me, “your, uh, shirt”.

I look down. No way. I was getting glammed up at home with my camisole on. Wouldn’t you know, I forgot to put MY SHIRT ON OVER MY CAMISOLE. As an endowed woman, it was noticeable to say the least. Plus I was wearing my dingiest G’s that day. Plus the whole bra thing. The seam of my tops were strategically laying across the middle of my braless bust. Of course!

The sweet lady was clearly much more embarrassed than me.  I smile and say, “At least I’m wearing pants!!!” . She was not amused. I tell her that I am going to go ahead and go home to grab a shirt.

As I leave, everyone’s eyes are on me. Oh sure, now there’s eye contact. I realize I was just let in on a secret that everyone already knew. So I say, to everyone, “Ha! I don’t have a shirt on!”. I walk out. Never, ever to return again.

I went home to check the mirror. Maybe you couldn’t really tell. I glance in the mirror and  realize that there was not a soul I passed today that didn’t notice. I hoped that there was not a chill in the air at any of my stops.

I decided that I do things like that because I have kids. Kids who probably should have mentioned I forgot a shirt, but cute kids nonetheless. It was not the first scatterbrained thing I’ve done and I’m certain it will not be the last. So I might as well embrace it. Walk out of the bank with my head held high, chest up(ish) and laughing. Really hard. Although I lost my “smarts” when I had children, I gained a special gift. Laughing at myself. Because I have to. Because when I am not laughing at myself, there’s a really good chance I’ll be crying.
Tell us about your most embarrassing moment– and whether it made you laugh or cry. What has the addition of kids to your family changed about your life?

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