Mother’s Day: A Day to Embrace Being Perfectly Imperfect

I wrote the note below for Mother’s Day because I couldn’t stop thinking about how mothers can carry around a lot of guilt. We feel guilty for not doing enough. Guilty for doing too much.  Guilty when we let our frustration or anger get the best of us.  I’ve been trying hard to let go of all of this guilt and just enjoy the special moments as they come along. Moments like waking up to two little girls spilling over with excitement as they presented the gifts they’d made for Mother’s Day.

Perfectly Imperfect

As a daughter, I love my mom dearly.

As a mom myself, I love my children with a kind of love that I’d never known before they came into my life. A love that wants to protect, nurture and teach. A love that is fierce, strong and true.

But it is also a love that is perfect in its imperfections. Real motherly love has small scratchy, rough patches where you’ll sometimes find impatience, anger or annoyance.

It’s a test of wills. It’s a daily dance. It’s a marathon.

Motherhood is all about finding the energy and spirit to keep countless balls in the air, without dropping one . . . or not losing hold of “strong and true” mom to “tired and impatient” mom.

But it’s a battle worth fighting, an important role to play. It’s a job I’m proud to hold.

And, it makes me love my own mom even more . . . because I now know how much went into each and every milestone celebration, family meal and hard-learned life lesson along the way.

Today, love your mom . . . or remember fondly the mom you once loved and still hold in your heart. Love yourself. And most of all, love and accept being perfectly imperfect . . . because you’re certainly not alone.

To all of you who are mothers, daughters, grandmothers, aunties and friends, I wish you a very Happy Mother’s Day.

There’s no recipe today because, well, I think everyone needs at least one day off from the kitchen. Today, I highly recommend ordering in.

And before I sign off, I’d also like to apologize to all of my blogging buddies. I’m afraid that life has got in the way of commenting and posting lately. I promise I’ll be in touch soon.