Some Days

Some days, it is really hard to be a parent.  You question yourself a lot.  Am I doing it right?  Am I a good mom?  Am I giving them everything they need?  The doubt weighs heavy on your shoulders, and all you can do is pray it away.

Some days, the guilt gets to you.  You try to balance all the important components of your life, and you just hope that at the end of the day, everyone feels loved enough.  But the guilt of that balance is a burden to carry, and all you can do is pray that away, too.

Some days, the constant stream of questions and arguments is enough to make you want to crawl into a hole.  Some days, I say, “Because I said so!” so often that I am positive that I have turned into my mother.  Which, I am learning, is a pretty damn fine person to be.

Some days, the stress of work and schedules and practices and rehearsals and ball games and brushing teeth and saying prayers (and the list goes on) is a strain on your marriage, and you find yourself thinking as you climb in bed and entwine your feet with your spouse’s, “Does he know there’s no one else I’d rather stand beside every day?”

Some days, raising a family is difficult.

But, on those other days, when we stop to put all of the nonsense aside – the questioning, the guilt, the frustration, and the stress – we see our children standing right before our eyes doing incredible things, and our heart just bursts with pride and joy.  And not because they got a trophy or they wore a pretty recital costume, but because they grew as people through these experiences.  You saw them make mistakes and learn, fall down and get back up again, face a fear, or persevere when they wanted to quit.  And, through it all, they turn to find YOU in the stands.  Those are the days that make us parents.

And, if we’re really lucky, those days happen so much more often than the “some days.”  Because life is really good.