Motherhood: A work in progress!

I was all prepared today to write some heartfelt, moving tribute to the most amazing job in the world: Motherhood, one fitting of such an auspicious day as Mother’s Day. Not that I think there’s only one day to celebrate moms: My husband has always told our daughter that although Mother’s Day is like a birthday where you highlight your gratitude for what your mom does, if that is the only time you are nice to Mom, we are in big trouble!

Well, it’s clear that no matter how long I am a mom, how many books I read or how much training I have: I have a long journey ahead of me. I still have to go back and ask for a “do-over”, take words back and tell my 8 year old “I am sorry, mommy messed up”.

Today was one of those days. We were working on our vegetable garden (please read “our vegetable garden”) and our daughter was loving the feel of the dirt under her fingers, the wind on her face, the warm sun after days of rain. She was fascinated about the fact that Life has a way of creating a whole plant out of a seed and even more marveled at the fact that the seed knew just what to do, given the right conditions. Yours truly was getting too warm and impatient, exasperated that our daughter was taking forever to pour more dirt, place the seeds and then had the audacity to take her sweet time writing the little labels so we could tell later what we were growing. I wanted to be done and move on to the next project for the day! I was totally focused on the next thing instead of enjoying every step of this process and the opportunity to see it through the eyes of a first timer: our curious 8 year old!

As I tried to move her along, she turned around and in frustration told me without hesitation: “Don’t rush me Mom. This is my garden too!” Ouch! It was at that moment that I realized I was missing out (again) on a great opportunity to enjoy the moment, right there, instead of being in a rush to get more done. I didn’t say a word for a minute or two. I took a deep breath and swallow my motherly, I-know-better-than-you-missy, I-have-so-much-to-do-today-thank-you-very-much attitude and said “You know what? You are right. I am sorry I am rushing you”.

So the moral of the story for me today is that no matter how many parenting books I have on my shelf or how many times I coach moms on being present and in the moment or how many clients I have successfully coached, one thing is for sure: Motherhood is a work in progress!!!

(this is the picture of our proud daughter and OUR vegetable garden!)