Day 52 The Perfect Mom Project

Here is the text I received yesterday morning after Aly left for school, "I love you Mom". The words were actually spelled out and everything. This came on the heels of another heated discussion. I cannot actually remember what it was about. I think it was a potpourri of things. Perhaps it was all the leftover annoyances from the last few days. Regardless, we were clawing and spitting at each other, bright and early.

I had gotten up and decided that I would make some Break and Bake cookies for the family lunches. I had decided at the store to pick these up as a fun alternative to the package cookies, which get vacuumed into my family's stomachs. Seriously, a package of cookies barely is opened and it is gone! So here I was trying to do something nice and I was battling with my daughter. This was not the happy homemaker scene I had hoped for at all! I kept plugging away at my task and tryed to stay focused on not chasing Aly out the door with the broom. As Aly was preparing to leave, I handed her a foil wrapped package of warm cookies from the oven and told her to have a good day. A few minutes later after the bus had picked her up she sent me the text message.

I have to say I was caught off guard. I figured that we would continue to battle it out when she got home. I even thought that no matter what I do, it is not enough for my kids sometimes, and then Aly surprised me. I responded back to her, knowing that she would not get it until after school. I felt it important to take this olive branch she was extending and extend one back to her. I wrote to her " I know u do. I always love u Aly. We need to talk through stuff. Life is too short to waste one day mad!", and with that the fire was out.

I give Aly a lot of credit. It is never easy to let the grip of anger go, especially when you are a teenager and your parent is really making you mad. For Aly to make the choice to let it go without one of her parents on her back, shows that she is growing up. I know we have more battles ahead, but I also know that there is hope in sight. I will be clinging to this olive branch for awhile and I will remind myself about it from time to time, when I think all hope is lost. I have to say that this event has helped me to realize that I may not have the whole perfect mom thing down yet, but there is hope for this family.