I have to laugh

I just finished booking the hotel for Lisa and I to stay this weekend for our girls' shopping extravaganza in Texas!  Looking back on the 30 minutes it took me to find the best deal on Hotels.com (going through Ebates, of course, to get cash back), I've realized how much my life has changed since I quit working. 

When I was a pharma rep, I remember picking up the phone to contact our company's travel department anytime I needed to book a hotel for training or a regional/national meeting.  It seemed to always be a leisurely call... the rep on the other end of the line always made sure everything was booked to my satisfaction.  If I was attending training, there was always a car and a driver waiting at the airport to whisk me away to a great hotel where my food and lodging were taken care of.  What a life...

Fast-forward three years.  Today I made the mistake of starting the booking process during lunchtime.  One of the coupon codes I was trying to use online wasn't working, so I had to pick up the phone and talk to a Hotels.com representative.  Jax and Emerson decide it would be a great time to crack each other up for no reason, so I'm talking to the rep and mouthing silent threats and shaking my pointer finger to my children.  They thought that was quite funny.  Jax proceeds to smear his peanut butter sandwich in his hair which makes Emerson laugh even harder.  The rep says, "Awww, sounds like you've got some kiddos having a good time there, huh?"  Courtesy laugh from me.  Shut up and fix my problem is what I really want to say.  She proceeds to tell me that the hotel I'm planning to book is excluded from the 10% off coupon code.  Imagine that.  After I get off the phone with her, it's naptime (thank you, DEAR LORD IN HEAVEN) and I start narrowing down my hotel choices.  The Melissa & Doug marker board/chalkboard easel sits right by the breakfast table, so I figure I might as well make use of my whiteboard skills with the easel at my disposal, so I create a handy-dandy chart complete with prices, distance from the outlet malls, and reviews.  I'm feeling just like the UPS guy.  The only problem?  When I go to eliminate a hotel from my snazzy list, the wet wipe I use from the table has a hidden gem.  A nice, greenish boogie straight from the pits of Jax's nasal passages.  Now smeared across my whiteboard masterpiece.  I just sat and stared at that booger in awe.  Because it represented so much of the crazy journey into motherhood I've taken these past three years.  Are there days I think back to the all-expenses-paid travel, nice suits, free car, great salary?  Sure.  But then I just look at a green booger to put it all back in perspective, and there's not a place I'd rather be.