Excitement

Another mom I know from an online forum posed a question today. While having a discussion with some co-workers who have kids, the topic of excitement came up. Specifically, whether other moms felt like they were missing something from their younger, single days. So this mom asked us (the other forum moms) if we felt like there was an element of excitement missing.
My knee-jerk reaction was to scream, "Yes! Where has all the excitement gone???" But, as I often do, I stopped for a moment to really ponder the question. In so doing, I realized it is really all about perspective. I mean, if I even HAD the free time I did when I was young and single, would I still find the same things "exciting"? And I went on to realize that many of the things that have become commonplace and mundane to me are actually pretty amazing.
So this is how I answered her question:

Define "excitement" If you mean spontanaity, then probably not. Most everything I do is carefully planned and days, even weeks, are back-timed to make sure everything that needs to get done does. There's no throwing caution to the wind and catching a movie on a whim or heading out of town at the last minute. On the other hand, however, in the past five years I've talked at 2 year old into handing over a decorative knife that I *thought* was out of his reach; I've vaulted a train table and a four year old to catch a 50+ pound dresser as it began to fall onto a three year old; I made a no-look catch as a two year old accidentally backflipped off a swing; I pounded incompletely chewed food out of the esophaguses of different little people on different occasions; I've fixed countless boo-boos; I've skipped countless hours of sleep; I've handled diapers that literally made grown men gag; I've wiped puke off my car, my kids, myself using only one semi-damp wipe and some old McDonald's napkins from the glove compartment; I've led "potty parades" complete with original musical compositions; flown with an infant and toddler; I've saved the day by chasing down a puppy that was accidentally let out of the house by children (more than once); taught two little people to say "please", "thank you", "I love you" and everything else; made ordinary pancakes into baseball pancakes; taught myself to make character cakes for birthdays; taught a three year old my secret chocolate chip cookie recipe and fought the urge to freak out when she spilled the flour and broke the egg before it got to the bowl; braved the grocery store with two pre-schoolers chanting, "He's touching me" "She's touching me" the ENTIRE time; made up innumerable crafts using glitter glue, pipe cleaners, and construction paper; let an 18 month old eat chocolate ice cream in a white dress; scraped squash off of floors, ceilings, and walls; remembered what was so great about Christmas; stood in countless lines for countless hours to see movies, ride rides, and purchase gifts; missed every adult movie but didn't really miss them at all; gladly handed over the only trophy I've won in 20 years to a four year old who told me he was proud of me; let a three and a four year old pick the Halloween costume I would wear in public; dropped everything to volunteer at school, coach soccer, cheer at basketball games, and bring snacks to the cutest tiny baseball players I've ever seen; convinced two little people that there was nothing to be scared of when I was terrified myself; yelled my head off; made up songs and sang them in public; laughed and cried more than I thought humanly possible...So maybe not excitement in the traditional sense, but you'd be hard pressed to find a dull moment in my life! I'm not sure I could take any more stimulation, to tell you the truth.