You're Not Perfect, Your Kids Will Love You Anyway.

This post is dedicated to my mother.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  

My mother turned fifty just a few short weeks ago! There are once again two decades between our ages and I like it that way. I have a very young mother who is often mistaken as my sister; I am sure she just loves that…I of course hate it. While people are trying to pay my mother a compliment they in turn are offending me. Weird how that works isn’t it? It really is just fine with me, I’ve always been sensitive about my age, and I know that about myself. I’ll always be 29, until I am 39, until I am 49; I think you can catch on to the pattern here.

I was in charge of bringing the cake to my mother’s party. I struggled for days on what kind of cake to make for her. I struggled because I realized that I have absolutely no idea what kind of cake my mother would even like. I felt saddened by this. I have known my mother for 32 years now (yeah weird considering I am only 29) and I have not one clue as to what her favorite cake would be. I can’t even tell you if there is a flavor she hates much less one that she loves!

This got me thinking about all the other things that I do not know about my mother. I don’t know her fears, what song her and my father danced to at their wedding, what she dreamed about becoming when she was a little girl, what regrets she has, or what she is most proud of in her life. I don’t know what her favorite flower is, what she hopes to still accomplish in her life. I don’t even know her favorite color.

Today is Mother's Day. It is a good day to self reflect on my own parenting skills and the parallels between myself and my mother. I love my mom. I'm grateful for the strength and courage she had at just seventeen years old when she decided to bring me home rather than give me away. I felt ill prepared to be a mother at 29, I can't imagine the fear she must have felt at seventeen.

If your mom is still around, give her a hug today. Find out something about her that you don't know but wish you did, even if it seems silly. If you are a mom, congratulations, parenting isn't easy. Give yourself some slack, you're not perfect, your kids will love you anyway. 

As for my day, I had a great day.  My son reminds me daily just how lucky I am.  He is so sweet and loving.  For the past week he has been saying, "Mommy, you're my best friend".  Awe..... it just makes my heart melt.