Starting Over

You know what I love about each and every morning? It's a chance to start over and erase all of the crap that went on the day before. Every dawn, as a mother, brings with it the possibility of a smooth-running, fun-loving day of mommyhood. Today was a bit of a struggle mainly because I'm feeling a bit under the weather, and when all of my pistons aren't firing, it's bad news for the kiddies. My impatience is way worse, my boundless energy hits a roadblock, and my attempts at acting selfless are just feeble.

So tonight, the homework and the dinner and the bath and the bedtime for my three kiddos disintegrated into a huge heap of pathetic blahness. I was mad at myself for being so short-tempered and lame with the kids but at the same time I couldn't snap out of it for even a second. But as all good mamas know, it's during these very moments that your kids all of a sudden become the wisest souls on the planet gently showing you the way.

I walked into my girls' room tonight to plant a kiss on CR's forehead. The Love Fairy, my 4-year-old was already deep in slumber beside her, and Bam-Bam, my toddler boy, had crashed out 30 minutes earlier in his crib. As I said goodnight to CR, I said, "Sorry the evening didn't go as nicely as we would have liked." My soulful 6-year-old firstborn replied, "That's okay Mommy, we'll start over in the morning."

Amen to that.