Mother’s Day
Here’s something I wrote for Bret for his Mother’s Day service.
I’m not the only mom to say that my children are the greatest gift in my life.
What I most struggle with is how to be such a gift in return to them. I overcompensate for my self-diagnosed failings. I constantly compare myself to the woman in the next aisle over at the grocery store. I sometimes indulge in a feeling of smug superiority when my children are perfectly behaved in a restaurant while the parents two tables over are staving off world war three. I feel an urge to buy unnecessary gifts when “quality time” with my kids has been truncated, as if a trip to the store will make up for my exhausted, short-tempered inattention.
I have lots of advice for other parents. I sadly don’t listen much to what others may have to offer me.
So it’s hard to remember that I am not alone in these struggles, that no one, no one, really has it all together. That perfectly coiffed and manicured “soccer mom” in the park is just as insecure about how her kids are growing as I am. I’m not so far away from the homeless woman down the street with her two preschoolers.
It doesn’t matter if dishes are still sitting in the sink, if work is making me crazy and cranky, if my son’s ears are filthy or if my daughter goes to preschool with mismatched socks or even shoes. What I know, even if I have to be reminded sometimes in the haze of getting from one day to the next, is that I love my children, and I tell them so as often as possible. The rest is details.
Comment by Jennie
May 15, 2006 @ 1:02 am
“The thing that is important is the thing that is not seen..” saint-exupery
i found this in the little prince book i gave to glenn in 1979, with tiny jesse crayon drawings on most pages. suns and moons and trees and stars.
you have always known that the inner life is what is most valuable.
the love, care and fun you and john give to brandon and nora is that important thing.
oh, and - peanut butter baths.