Brain Freeze

     I mentioned on facebook yesterday that being pregnant four times has shot my knees all to heck. Aside from that and the many other physical ways my body has been destroyed by having four kids, my mind has also become somewhat less than it used to.
     I'm talking, of course, about the brain freeze. And no, not the kind you get after taking a big sip of slurpee. More the kind where you're in the middle of talking and suddenly- BOOM- your mind goes completely and utterly blank.
     This happened to me yesterday while I was doing my visiting teaching. I was in the middle of giving the message about nurturing the rising generation- something that should have been easy for me to talk about because I do it every day (or at least I hope I do!). But right in the middle of me expressing my feelings about the topic, all thoughts instantly and suddenly disappeared from my head, leaving nothing but emptiness.
     How embarrassing.
     Even after blushing and stammering and saying 'yeah' alot and explaining what had just happened, it still took me like five minutes before coherent thoughts returned to my head.
    Really embarrassing.
    And that's not the first time this has happened. Before having kids I could speak in church or bear my testimony with no problems. My talks would be written in point form and then I would get up and talk easily, using only my notes as my guide. Now I have to write every single word down and I spend most of the talk staring at my paper so I don't lose my place and then start babbling and then suffer what's sure to come- the brain freeze.
     The last time I bore my testimony (which has been more than two years now- yikes!) the brain freeze descended. I was in the middle of it and suddenly- whoosh- there went my thoughts and I was left standing there, blushing and saying 'yeah' over and over until I could get some sort of intelligence back. It's no wonder I've been reluctant to bear my testimony since, not because I don't have one, but because "yeah... yeah... um, yeah" isn't much of a testimony.
     FYI- I'f I'm saying 'yeah' a lot, that's a sure sign the brain freeze has hit me.
     I can't help but wonder if the brain freeze is a physical complication of bearing children- like stretch marks and a flabby tummy- or if it's actually the result of spending the last six years at home with mainly small children as conversation companions.
     Either way, when the brain freeze hits, I'm screwed. And embarrassed. And red as a beet.
     So if you happen to be around when this happens, please cut me some slack. Because I will eventually get my brain power back. It just might be a few minutes and a lot of 'yeahs' later.