Mommy of the year? ~LOL~

I was just reading this post and I just HAVE to tell this story. I think everyone has their "mommy of the year" story!

When the boy was about 3 years old, we were out in our courtyard. I was sitting on the picnic table talking to some neighbors, and he was playing with a ball. It was like one of those school kickballs. He and a few other kids his age were kicking the ball around and somehow it ended up in a bush.
A big bush.

He ran over to me and asked me if I could get the ball. It was stuck on some branches.
I walked over to the bush and realized that I couldn’t reach the ball, so I pulled on the branches to make the ball come loose. All of the sudden, I was looking straight into a pair of black beady eyes. Holy Shit! It was a bird. And I am afraid of birds. I hate them. And it started to come straight for me.

I turned around to get the hell outta there. The boy and 2 of his little friends were standing right behind me! I knocked them ALL over. But I kept on going. The boy had his hand reached out, yelling..”MOMMY!!!??!!” He was terrified.

“Get up!” I said, not wanting to go back near the bush.
“Come on..come over here!” I said, waving for him to come.

He just laid on the ground and cried. Finally, when I got my sense about me, I walked over and picked him up. I felt like a piece of shit.
Who the hell does that?
Who the hell leaves their child?
I guess me.

This was 7 years ago, and I still remember it to this day. I even remember what the boy was wearing. He, of course, has no recollection of this event. But still. I think if he did, he would have forgiven me. Although, he still brings up the time, the only time, that any form of me telling him to shut up has ever come out of my mouth.
He didn’t understand the context of it, and it really hurt his feelings.
I still apologize to him when he brings it up.
I was frustrated with something that had nothing to do with him,
and he wouldn't stop asking me questions. Afterward, I felt horrible.

Sometimes we make bad decisions. That’s all part of being a parent.
We live, we learn, and we'll never be perfect.
Never.