There are these fleeting moments where I feel like that mom. You know, the one who turns all the field trip permission slips in on time. The one who makes sure their kids have one extra set of gym clothes in their locker. The one who runs spelling words the night before the test rather than in the car on the way to school.
We see her everywhere. She's at the grocery store picking up items for that perfectly cooked homemade meal. She's the one that adds special touches to holidays--even if they are just Halloween. Her kids never have dirty faces or fingernails.
She doesn't leave things until the last minute or mutter phrases like "Why would I spend $40 on a Halloween costume you're going to wear once?" Because she's clipped enough coupons well in advance to justify the splurge.
She wouldn't dream of scouring closets the night before Halloween to assemble a presentable costume...and then show up in the neighborhood wearing yoga pants and smelling of the tacos she threw together moments before the first trick or treaters left their homes...
And, by no means would she allow one little boy to only consume a bagel, leaving him absolutely starving by the time he got home from collecting way too much candy in his handmade costume that borders on just plain wrong. {Is it okay to teach your kids there's such a thing as a nerd?}
I sometimes wish that was me. But it's not.
And you know what, I'm okay with that. I don't even aspire to it anymore...because if everything was perfect, I have a feeling my family would be really, really boring. And bored. {or maybe I'm just fooling myself?}
The bottom line is, I don't think that mom exists. And if she says she does, I don't believe her. We all have messy houses sometimes. We all forget homework papers or permission slips or no-uniform days.
Don't we?
Maybe we're too hard on ourselves. Maybe we expect too much of ourselves. Maybe it's more important that our kids leave with a hug than with an order form for an extra gym suit.
Maybe they're perfectly happy. Maybe they can help by cleaning up their own messes. Maybe it's time we let ourselves off the hook a little bit. Maybe your time is more valuable than your perfection.
Maybe it's time to let some of the air out of our proverbial balloons...the ones filled with all those empty ideas of what we should be. Maybe it's okay to accept what we are...to strive to be better and to keep our eyes fixed on what really matters.
Somehow, I don't think our kids will look back one day upset that we forget to fill out their reading log. I think they'll be thankful for the prayers we said with them at night. The way we listened when they were upset. The kindness with which we taught them important lessons...
...let some of it go...
you are more than enough.
