It has been one of those days where nothing is working out. Up at 5:30 (okay 6 after I finally stopped pressing the snooze button), making lunches, dragging the girls out of bed (“Noooooo mommy, I am soooo cozy”), getting dressed, getting others dressed, getting something into the girls stomachs, brushing hair, catching buses…

1. My Imperfect Perfect Life
It has been one of those days where nothing is working out. Up at 5:30 (okay 6
after I finally stopped pressing the snooze button), making lunches, dragging the
girls out of bed (“Noooooo mommy, I am soooo cozy”), getting dressed, getting
others dressed, getting something into the girls stomachs, brushing hair, catching
buses… Nothing at work getting done the way it is supposed to, rushing home (I
think I am one of those creepy people who sleeps with her mouth open on the
bus, head bopping everywhere), trying to figure out what the heck I can make for
dinner out of a can of beans and a chicken breast… dirty kitchen (I am going to
regret not cleaning it in the morning), kids clothes strewn across the floor…. I
think I just consumed an entire chocolate Easter bunny in less than 10 seconds…
I’m defiantly going to regret those 600 calories later… a girl just can’t get a break
here.
I am definitely not a perfect person. I am defiantly not an ideal mommy either. I
try my best, but often I am sporadic. There are weeks where my dinner would
make Julia Child proud, and others where… well, let’s say Kraft Foods would be appreciative (but come on, admit it… a
really buttery Kraft dinner is awesome… I can eat the whole box…) There are weeks where my kids will get a story every
night… and other weeks where I let them watch iCarly… have you seen that show? Seriously. I love it. There are days
where I will jog, or work out…. And there are days where I will eat my child’s entire Easter stash.
I can’t do it all. Not all the time anyway. Balance is beautiful and peaceful. But gosh darn it snake poop it is hard to not
fall on my ass sometimes. And I can’t give my children what I had as a child. I don’t think any parent can. It’s funny.
Trying to recreate the magical moments from your childhood, often pales in comparison — for various reasons. We live
in different times. And really, a child’s perspective is so different from their parents that no matter how much planning,
or how much we want to create the perfect environment for our children… no matter how much of a disaster your day
has been (or how messy your house has gotten), as long as you are in a loving environment, your children are happy and
creating golden childhood memories of their own… no matter if your perfectly planned cupcakes came out of the oven
burnt.
Tonight, when I got home my 5 year old saw how beautiful it was outside, and her father working hard at cleaning the
backyard and preparing for summer, and wanted a BBQ. She remembered last summer with fondness the same blue sky,
the smell of the BBQ fire, the gentle breeze, and her family sitting around her and eating outside – the beginning of
summer. And so tonight, despite the disaster of the day, the lack of ingredients in my fridge to make a well-coordinated
meal, we threw some chicken on the BBQ, I mashed up the can of beans in a pan, and made the quickest frozen peas
and corn and mayonnaise salad on this side of the border. It wasn’t gourmet, but we enjoyed the first BBQ of the
season, the blue blue sky, the breeze, the migration of the geese above our heads, and I am pretty sure that when my
daughters are my age with their own children, they will remember this memory fondly and wish they could recreate it
for their own children.