Have you ever experienced "Mother's Intuition?" What is it exactly is it? It's something a mother might feel--a sense of worry, an unexplained feeling, an odd pain or maybe even joy that she knows is not related to something she is directly experiencing in that moment. Why might she suddenly be struck with a sense of urgency, of panic, in the middle of a yoga class, when her children are at home with a babysitter? Or why might she suddenly decide she she needs to call her college-aged son when just talked to him the day before and he was fine? Last Thursday was Moving Day. My husband and I decided to have the movers come on a weekday so that all three kids would be in school. The girls would be out of the house from 8:30 to 3:30 and Cooper from 8:30 to 12:45. Once the last lunch box was packed and school bag zipped, the kids were shuttled off to school and it was like the starting gun at the race track had been fired. Both parents moved with the sort of efficient speed that is simply not possible when children are present. Having a small house for so many years meant that we had a limited  number of “large” possessions. The movers did their job quickly wrapping all of the dressers in plastic so that the drawers, still full of clothes, could be moved in one piece. On the other hand, the number of small possessions we had acquired with three children, and packed into that small house, was alarming.  I was tasked with running around picking up all of the stray marbles, doll purses, Lego pieces, and hair ties that suddenly appeared when the larger items were out of the way. When I had filled my 2005 Chrysler Pacifica with several boxes of  “smalls,” I told my husband I would meet him at the new house. He was going to help the movers finish up. The drive is about 12 minutes, with at least 8 of those on the highway. I called my dad to fill him in on our progress when all of a sudden my car started fishtailing and my steering wheel seemed to be useless. I screamed, threw down my phone and somehow avoided colliding into the cars whizzing by me. Thankfully, the brakes were working and when I slowed down, the steering seemed to work again...though something felt "off." I took the exit and drove slowly and carefully the rest of the way to the new house. Needless to say it could have been much, much worse and I was thankful none of the kids were in the car with me. 

 Once I stopped shaking, I realized how very lucky I had been. I also thought about the two and a half hour (round trip) drive to a furniture store I had taken with Cooper the day before. The whole time I was on the highway, going speeds up to 70 miles an hour, I was experiencing extreme anxiety and I kept having vivid flashes of getting into a horrific accident. I wondered if the stress of the move was affecting me. In hindsight, I’m asking myself if some sort of sixth sense was at work and perhaps I was unknowingly aware of the potentially deadly mechanical failure my car would soon experience. The picture above is my car, being towed, in front of the new house, with the moving van in the background. We now know that the steering tie rod came loose and the entire steering system needed to be replaced. I will never drive that car again. Have you ever experienced Mother's Intuition?