Saturday, September 19, 2009

Shoot for mediocrity

I hate it when people tell mamas to stop obsessing about everything. You don't have to be a perfect mama, they say. Just do your best. My friend Diana used to have a quotation that read: "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you'll land among the stars." Not sure who said it. I asked the internet, and it doesn't know either.
I'm not shooting for the moon anymore. Not when it comes to motherhood. I don't fret about the shelf I didn't dust. I'm not really concerned about the junk in the drawer or the unorganized pantry. Nope.
I am aiming for mediocrity, and sometimes I don't even get that far. Who has time to worry about straightening their hair when some days it's a challenge to get a shower? Who has time to match their kids' clothes when they don't even remember to wash breakfast off their kids' faces? It's not that I think I have to be perfect. But decent would be good. Most days, I don't even get that far. It's kind of discouraging.
All I want is for my kids to eat, have clean clothes, and not impale themselves or choke on random household objects. But even that's too much some days, and the kids go to school with dirty clothes and very little nutrition while I scoop action figure heads from baby's mouth. So if you don't get to mediocrity, where do you end up? Just breathing, baby. At least we can still manage that.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love that post, Kaylie, that's so great and so relatable! Some days its just "surviving", huh?

Amber Lough said...

We're supposed to wipe the food off their faces after lunch? I thought it was "just-wait-till-bath-time." ;-)

Seriously, though, some days I just stare at the kitchen like it's someone else's. Why don't THEY clean it? Then I have a cup of coffee, crank up my Mama Mia CD, and suddenly, the cleaning needs to be done by me, and only me, whilst singing.

The baby likes to watch me dance around with a broom.

Megan @ Megity's Handmade said...

Good thoughts Kaylie. My husband always says "I aim to try." I especially get caught up in the daily grind and the frustrations with a destroyed house and crusty door frames that I swear I just washed. They always say that somedays, we will look back and miss that. I guess it's true because my mother-in-law got the biggest kick out of the kids handprints all over her window. She didn't want to wash them off.