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Grace, lessons, and a few laughs for Mother’s Day
It’s almost Mother’s Day. It’s the day we declare our love for moms and thank them for their selfless love and dedication to raising the next generation! I love Mother’s Day, I love being a mom, and I love my own mom too!
Mother’s Day also brings to mind the times when I wasn’t really on my game…at all. We all have those moments (or days). So in addition to love and admiration, I think one of the best gifts we can give moms this year, and all year, is a little bit of grace. We like to emphasize that being our best selves is an important part of being a wonderful grandparent. And one way to be our best self is to not be too hard on ourselves! To give ourselves a bit of grace, and look for the things we can learn (or laugh at) from our not-so-great moments!
I could write a book of the times I fell short, and some of those could have been a lot more serious than they ended up, but in honor of Mother’s Day, and in honor of the good that can come when we forgive and laugh at ourselves, I want to share just a few of Ron and my (albeit lesser) parenting “fails”. I’m including Ron – after all we are in this parenting thing together.
The Wardrobe
Capsule Wardrobe for the win. My daughter Amanda was invited to play in a soccer tournament on the other side of the state. She left early with her team while Ron, Josh and I followed later. We arrived at the hotel and opened the back of the car. It was empty. We had nothing other than the clothes on our backs. Ron and I looked at each other and said simultaneously “I thought YOU packed the car.” Lesson learned? Fred Meyer has a great clearance section, capsule wardrobes are the best, and most importantly you can have a great time even when you don’t have all the things you thought you needed.
School Days
School Days – Speaking of Ron, he went back to college when the kids were young. All of their schools (pre-k, elementary, and his college) were 1/2 hour away. The agreement was that he would pick up the kids a couple of times a week. One day I saw his pickup pull in the yard. He got out (alone!), walked in the house, looked at me, didn’t say a word and drove back to town to pick up the kids. Lesson Learned – I don’t always have to inform someone of something they’ve missed. (I need to follow this advice yet today!)
The Long Drive
The Long Drive. Amanda and I drove all the way from Yakima to Bridgeport (2 hours and 45 minutes) in dense fog to watch Josh’s basketball game. We had great conversation, and even stopped for dinner on the way. When we arrived the ticket people said “Oh, just go on in. It’s well after half time.” The look on my astonished face prompted them to say, “Did you not hear there was a time change?” Nope – failed to check the updated schedule! So we walked in, joined the other families for the last few minutes, and drove slowly back home. Lesson learned? Well, doublecheck all schedules! I could have been mad at a number of things (especially myself!), but it was more important to celebrate the special mother-daughter road trip! Look for what can be redeemed out of the mistakes that are made!
The Vacation
It was basically a metal box. Our early vacations consisted of camping in our tent trailer for a few days on the Oregon Coast. I was always so disappointed in the cool weather, so I declared that I (please emphasize the ‘I’ as it clearly depicts my attitude) would plan the next vacation. So the following year off we went to Central Oregon. We camped at a warm springs resort, and it was not cool at all. In fact it was 115 degrees, and thunderstroms rolled through every night. The tent trailer was a terrifying place to be! It could have been one of our worst getaways ever! What did I learn? That my family is so gracious and patient – All they said was “Mom, are you warm yet?”
As you reminise on your own mom moments, we hope you have a wonderful Mother’s day….full of love and grace!
Happy Mother’s Day to you all!
