Wednesday remix - magical mistakes in motherhood

It's hard to believe I wrote this 11 years ago. This post is still true today though my OS are 21, 16 and 14. Hope you enjoy and can relate.

Your day will come. It's sooner than you think.

This picture courtesy of my beautiful cousin Emma!

One day you'll think you're the most awesome in the world. You'll be perfectly puffed up reveling in your parental accomplishments, feeling as if you alone have the key to every motherly dilemma. You'll wonder what all those other poor moms in the world are doing. No one compares to you. You're amazingly awesome and your child is soooooooo lucky to have you as a mommy, your head can barely fit through the front door. Go on w/ur bad self.


That's when it will hit. Don't be surprised. In fact, enjoy the time when you join the rest of the real world and realize you are going to do dumb things as a mother.


Where should I begin? I'm certain my motherly pride was shot down pretty early. I can't remember the exact moment but it's gone.


But I must admit I'm enjoying it. Should I tell you about the time I almost totally embarrassed Nathaniel in first grade? I thought it was Nursery Rhyme Dress Up Day and asked him if he wanted to participate. He vehemently said no and thank goodness he did because it turns out I had the wrong day! My poor boy would have been the only child walking around as Humpty Dumpty in the entire school!

Dare I admire the time I went grocery shopping. Aaron was carefully sitting on the bottom of the grocery cart when I felt an unusual pull as I was going down the aisle. Thinking it was just a piece of junk on the floor, I pushed the cart over the stubborn bump on the ground. Moments later I stopped and paused only to hear seconds later, Aaron's painful cries. I had run over my child's finger and had drug that poor fingernail down the grocery aisle! Half of the nail had been ripped off as we ran into the Lowe's bathroom seeking medical attention.


Then, later on, it got infected and we thought he might never have a nail on that finger again, even as a full-grown adult. (He's got one now, praise God!)

"Hi, I'm Nate and my mom embarrasses me!"

Do you want to hear another one? In second grade, I insisted Nate wear this new soccer outfit I had bought him. It looked like a sweat pants outfit but apparently not to all his classmates. He told me the minute he walked into class they all burst into laughter because he looked like he was wearing pajamas.


I'm not alone...I'm in good company. My neighbor slammed the car door on  her daughter's hand (accidentally, I might add!). My own mother once wore a pair of jeans inside out to the grocery store...hmm, maybe it's genetic! ;)

"Hi, I'm Aaron and I'm lucky to have a nailbed!"

As if I needed reminding, mothering is very taxing. We put our all in it and still we make mistakes, right? But that's where mercy, humor and grace come in. If you haven't had your day and you're still in denial, welcome to that special moment when you become like the rest of us. A regular human mommy, flawed and forgetful. Loving and loved. Blemished and blessed. Just the way God made us.


If we could extend to ourselves the same mercy the Lord gives us! Try it next time you blow it and then enjoy the peace that passes understanding. May we all giggle and smile at the ways we show our humanness to our family and they love us anyway. May we extend the same grace to our loved ones when they flub up. And may your journeys as a parent humble and humor you every day!


Don't leave me hanging! Tell me about an epic mama fail!