What an exciting Mother's Day.I am so grateful for all the encouragement and love I get from my mother and my mother-in-law.They are so good to me.I find them both strong, inspiring women, tirelessly trying to help their children.I only hope I can live up to their reputations as mothers.We don't always agree.We don't always like each other.We aren't always kind to each other.But we always try to love each other.Their love for my children and theirs is AMAZING.They aren't June Cleavers.They don't bake cookies.They just try their best everyday at all they do. I'm not sure why I can't keep my house immaculate, provide balanced, nutritious, delicious meals, bake continuously, exercise on a regular basis, iron, have my hair and make up and nails done, dinner on the table promptly on the table at six o'clock, be unconditionally patient and compassionate with my children, sew all our clothes and make everything from scratch, spend appropriate amounts of time teaching at the table and playing on the floor, wear a dress, get us all to bed on time every night, have more realistic expectations of myself, but I am working on it.I am not sure wear we get all these ideas of a perfect mother or why our standards are so high.Perhaps from the media or our dreams of what it would be like to be a mother.I have learned that parenting is the most challenging thing I have ever done.After be coming a Mama I have learned multi-tasking is the only way to go.My mom says if you can't do one thing perfectly, just do everything as good as you can.That must be where I learned to do too much, or try to. The good thing is some days it is easy to forget the piles of clean laundry to wash or put away leave the dirt on the floor a little longer than I want to.Neglect the dishes, go through the drive thru, grab a pizza, give myself a break for not getting up before my children to read, to pray, to clean, to cook.Some days I can put it all on the back burner to go to the park or play on the floor with trains,or hit Granville Island,kids in tow.Those are the days they will remember.I don't remember if my mom kept the house tidy and clean.I don't remember if the ironing was done or the car was washed. I remember she once baked a whole mess of heart shaped cookies for me to take to school. I remember her unshaved, prickly legs in bed.I remember the banana seat bicycle she got me and encouraged me to ride.I can still hear her saying, "I never had any training wheels so you don't need any either."I remember the wading pool on the porch, the chess set she made for me, the swing set she cemented in the yard, the roller skating on the seawall at Stanley Park, the friends she let me have over, the bunk beds, the fish tank I never cleaned, the garden, the sandwiches, the cat she got me when we moved, her being a girl guide leader, our baptism, getting my ears pierced at swingin' Surrey Place mall, rootbeer floats, green milk, Shakee's Pizza, food storage, going to the hairdresser,her working so hard to provide for our tiny family.The list goes on.She wasn't perfect but she was my mom.I hope I am making good memories with my children too.Mom I appreciate everything you sacrificed to make me into the woman I am.I am so grateful for your faith, your perseverence, your patience and your support.Thank-you to all the mothers I know because you all are good examples to me.I am lucky to know so many mommies who inspire me to try harder and who listen to me when I just need to connect to a grown up woman.I am lucky to have a husband who sees my value and helps me to stay positive even when I am insanely sleep deprived and unreasonable.I am also very lucky to get the breaks I do when I just can't give of myself for one more minute.Life is good,even though it's hard.We learn so much from our challenges.
