What does my shirt have to do with the Science Show?

I used to be a punctual person. So punctual, in fact, that I was regularly the first person there...wherever "there" may be on this particular occasion, and waiting on others to arrive.

Now I'm the mom of five kids. My...um...timing has changed.

So as I'm running (well, running might be a generous term) with my five children, one on my back, into the county fair, with only minutes to spare before Mr. Whiz Bang started his 1:00 science show, I realized, "Hey, this is my first time at the fair, and I have noooo idea where I'm going! Ah! An information booth right inside the gate! Jackpot!"

Doing a quick head count of children among the thousands of fair goers, I get to the barn red information booth. "Hi, how are you. Can you please tell me where the 1:00 Whiz Bang science show is located? This is our first time at the fair, and I don't know where I'm going." (see how much small talk I'm making?!

"Oh what a pretty shirt you're wearing!"

Um, what?

"Lord have mercy, you have a baby on your back! She's not wrapped up in your shirt is she? Oh that's not even your shirt. What is that? Earl, come look at this! Look! It looks like her shirt, but really she has a baby on her back."

Um. Ok. "You see, because it's 12:58 and my friend is presenting a science show and my kids would really like to see it. Do you know where it is?"

"So that baby just stays back there?"

Deep breath, Sarah....."Yeah. She loves it! It's a woven piece of fabric that's designed for this purpose. It's just called a woven baby wrap."

"Well I'll be darned. Do you see this Earl?"

"Yeah, with five kids, it helps to have the baby up and out of my arms, so I can hold on to these two wiggly boys."

Anyway, you get the idea. Of course, we did eventually make it to the science show, only a few minutes late.

It's been a learning experience for me, a whole new way of interacting with people up here. I grew up in suburban life, where people smiled and said hello, but not a lot of deep conversation happened...it was the beginning of cell phones, and people's heads just got dipped deeper and deeper into their virtual world. Out here in the country, people have cell phones, and it's not uncommon to see people looking at them, of course, but there's less rush to always be up to date, I guess. Either that, or interacting with other people...the truest form of networking and community building....hasn't yet been lost.