Heart Stopping Moments

Do you ever have heart stopping moments? I was once at some church meeting (I think it was a regional conference in Provo), where President Monson spoke about heart stopping moments he has had. He told how during the years of the iron curtain he was concerned about the saints in East Germany knowing the correct church procedures and doctrines, because they weren't allowed to have a church handbook (for some reason). So he proceeded to memorize the entire Church Handbook of Instruction, and went to Germany and sat down at the church typewriter and began writing it all out. About halfway through doing this, he looked up, and on the shelf above the typewriter was a Church Handbook of Instruction that someone had smuggled in previously.

President Monson said that at that moment was a heart stopping one. Although he did know the church policies better than anyone else until they next changed the Handbook.

Another Heart Stopping Moment happened when he was at a stake conference visiting, and sitting right behind the podium. The Stake President stood up to give his talk, and about five minutes in, President Monson, who was sitting with his legs crossed, switched his legs around. As he did so, his foot brushed the back of the Stake President's leg, and the Stake President, think this was a signal, said, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen" and sat down right then.

I don't actually remember what he went on to talk about, but I do remember these two stories very well. I've thought about heart stopping moments since then as they relate to my own life.

On Sunday I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting, the first meeting of the day, nursing Elisheva. After she was done, I was buttoning up my shirt (a brand new silk one I had never worn that I got last Summer) and one of the buttons right in the center came off into my hand. I had a heart stopping moment then. Maybe not too serious of one, but certainly a potentially embarrassing one. I had no jacket, and neither did anyone else (this is summer, after all). Whispered inquiries to Mom Shannon revealed that she did not have any safety pins. I did not have any safety pins. I've always been bad at having one of those Mom Purses that contain everything from band-aids to your shot records.

In fact, once this spring while living in England I even forgot to pack a bag at all when we went to the Purcell's for dinner, and Lydia had a poopy diaper, which ended the visit abruptly, since we had nothing to change her into. We ended up "emptying" the diaper of its contents, and then putting her back in it while hurrying home for a real change. (Through two different bus rides).

Considering that I'm good if I remember diapers and wipes, there were definitely no safety pins in site. So I adopted the good old reverent posture from Primary, with arms folded in front, and hurried out to the library, which thankfully was both open and empty of people. I then spent the next five minutes ransacking through every drawer in the room until I blessedly found a baggie of safety pins. I took two, which may count as stealing from the church, but with the alternative of having my shirt gape open to the whole attending body of saints, I took the lesser of two evils.

Thankfully that was it; no one was the wiser except my husband, and my face was saved, and my heart restarted.

What are your heart stopping moments? What about most potentially embarrassing but thankfully averted ones?