We had quite the miserable time at the doctor's office today. We arrived early for the appointment--as all good patients do. I brought plenty of snacks and toys for my two year old and 10 month old. And we were set and ready to see the doctor. I'm a good mom, right? Minute after minute ticked by and I was so proud of my kids. No temper tantrums or screaming fits (as could easily have been the case). I thought we were doing quite well. I kept the boys in the stroller to contain the chaos and would walk them up and down the hall to keep them entertained. After a long endured hour and a half passed by, we were walking by an older man who then, in his broken English, took it upon himself to tell me how to raise my children. "This is a public space," he said. "You should teach your children to be quiet." Of course I rebutted in defense of my children that they are small and were actually doing quite well because it has been a long wait. Yet, over and over he yelled, yes yelled, at me that this is a public space and I should educate my children better. At first I was proud of myself to have contained my anger and still responded respectfully, but as I continue to think on the experience, I continue to think more and more about what I truly wished I had said. So, I write this to you all as my reading therapists to tell you what I really would have liked to have said and alleviate myself of the unending torture of what an appropriate response should have been. It would have been something like this... "I feel sorry for you sir that you life is in such a state of misery that you find it necessary to unleash your ignorance and intolerance on me and my small, cute, wonderfully adorable and completely innocent children. It is this very ignorance and intolerance that invites and fuels so many of the problems of the world. But how can I expect small minds to grasp and understand big concepts. So for now, I will simply dismiss your comments as nothing worthy of even taking a sliver of my time and go about my business, unruffled and undeterred". That's what I would have said had mother bear been allowed to be fully unleashed. But I didn't, so I thank all of you for being that listening ear to a disheartened mother looking out for her kids.