I'm Not Perfect

Day 295

Glennon Melton from Momastery tops my list of favorite bloggers.  She shares her life (warts and all) in an attempt to make us all feel more real. Melton tells it how it is.  She lays it out there: her addiction, parenting, failed adoptions and family.  Who wants to read about a perfect mom with perfect kids with a spotless house?  Certainly not me.

As a stay-at-home mom, it’s easy to get pulled into a competition of my-kid-is-better-than-yours or look-how-together-I-am while behind the curtain the kids roll on the floor like rabid puppies and the scarf as fashion is really a foil to hide the coffee stain from this morning. 

We build each other up by being honest about our struggles.  Plus, no one likes a braggart. 

I see a friend at the grocery store who’s wrangling her twin boys while simultaneously grabbing things for dinner.  (With all three of my boys in school, I shop alone during the day, an unprecedented luxury for stay-at-home moms of little ones.)   

“Didn’t you just feed them dinner yesterday?” I joke. 

“Right?  I know,” she laughs.  We talk for a few minutes about what the kids are up to as her boys sneak items into the cart.  “I see that,” she says without missing a beat. 

“So what are you up to today?” she asks. 

Thinking of Melton and keeping it real, I tell my friend that the boys and I are making caramel apples after school. 

“Oh, we should do that,” she muses. 

“With the caramel wraps I brought last Halloween and didn’t use,” I finish.  “How far past the expiration date do you need to alert Poison Control?”   

She laughs. 

It’s OK to let people know that you haven’t got it all figured out, or heck, even showered that day.  This is life, people.  It’s not always pretty and it’s definitely not perfect.  By admitting to my faults, I let other people know that I won’t judge.  That’s the best kind of friend to be.

I wave bye and head home with my groceries, imaging the boys’ excitement to our after-school surprise.  To be on the safe side, I program Poison Control on speed dial.