Divine Intervention

We had a crazy weekend.. both Lexi and Jake played in a basketball tournament.


That meant eight basketball games in two days.

Amazingly, none of the games were at the same time, but they were close, and they were at different gyms, which meant a lot of running back and forth for those of us with driver's licenses.

Today, it caught up with me, and with the little girls too.

Brad had commitments at church he coudln't get out of, so I was left to play taxi driver by myself (not really by myself - I was so lucky to have Mary, Madonna and Chrissy to help!).

At some point during Jake's first game of the day (the second we had sat through), the little girls started melting down.

This was not a little meltdown.

We're talking about a very big meltdown.

Huge, to be exact.

I was ready to leave and never step foot in a gym again.

But I knew I couldn't do that.

Because while Lexi and Jake would tell me it was ok, I know they would have been hurt if I'd bailed.

But this meltdown was bad.

Jake's game ran long, and I knew we'd be late for Lexi's game.

Of course the girls didn't cooperate and get in and out of the van nicely.

And they were even worse during Lexi's game (of which we missed the entire first half).

I didn't enjoy the game, even though Lexi played great and her team won.. the game and the tourney.

Afterwards, she decided to hang with her team rather than go watch Jake's last game.

Lizzy completely lost it.

Total meltdown/temper tanturm.

Not cool.

Morgan fell asleep before we even left the parking lot.

Jake and I decided to drive to the other side of town to get McDonald's and ignore Lizzy's screaming.

After 30 minutes of screaming and crying, Lizzy finally fell asleep.

I took Jake to the gym and opted to stay in the van until game time.

It was then, while I played solitare on my phone and enjoyed the silence (and occasional snores) from the back of the van and contemplated skipping Jake's game, that I got a mood-changing text. It read:

"I know this may be kind of strange, but I was thinking of how AWESOME of a mother you are. Just wanted to tell you that."

Talk about divine intervention.

At it's finest.

I so needed to read those words, because at the very moment I got that text, I was doubting my mom skills. How in the world did my amazing sister in law know that? And why did she take time to send a random text telling me what a great job I'm doing?

That text changed my perspective on my situation, and reminded me that one bad moment (or two hours worth of bad moments, in this case), doesn't make me a bad mom.

It makes me human.

And even though I could have handled their behavior better, I didn't do a lousy job either.

We moms are too hard on ourselves.

But the reality is, even moms have bad days.

Its ok.

Kids have bad days too, and that's ok too.

It's how we handle those situations that's important.

And even at our very worst moments, some people still think we're doing a pretty good job.

It's something I need to remember, and I also need to remember that others look up to me as a mom, and as an example.

That's a lot of pressure.

I just hope I can handle it, and rise to the occasion, even during the biggest meltdowns ever.

That text also taught me how important it is to be nice, and to take time to be kind. I need to do this more often - whether it's the teller at the bank, my boss, or even my kids. Kind words can change a person's entire day.

Trust me.

And to my amazing sister in law: thank you. You have no idea how much I needed that random text today. And, for the record, I think you're pretty awesome too.