Day 230 The Perfect Mom Project

It is interesting how much your mothering skills change through the years. I have been thinking back to when we were in Mexico many years ago when our girls were younger. Ashleigh was 16 and Avery was 3 and Aly was 5. Ashleigh hung out with her friends and even shared a room with the other girls. Mark and I spent most of our time keeping our younger girls bathed in sunscreen and entertained. They also kept us entertained with their antics, "Mommy and Daddy? Watch this!" or loud smacking noise and "She hit me!"
In some ways all things have changed and yet they are the same. We are still invited to watch them perform and we do have to intervene when there is a smack down, but it is no longer as much parenting as reminding. It feels like we have given the girls all the tools and now we are just holding up the road signs on their life path. We also know that from time to time we will be their life raft too.

The best that I can hope for is that someday when I am no longer here for all of my girls that they will remember the lessons that I taught them in love. I also pray that they will pass on the little bit of crazy that makes us unique to their own children. I know that as a Mom, all you can do is your best, and some of us Moms have a better best then others. I do not know where I fit on that sliding scale, but I do know that I always work towards perfection with a little slice of embarrassment thrown in for good measure. That way none of my kids will ever forget humbleness. I just hope that when the time comes for them to work life's room on their own, they know I will be a part of them and that even on my worst day, it was the best I had. This alone gives me pause about my own Mom; as this year passes I realize that we all have our own gifts and even in mothering they are not always great, but somehow I ended up with the tools and in the end, I guess that is all you can hope for. So, my gift to my children will be…I know you can do this, I love you!