OH HAPPY DAY!

For the past month, I have been overly occupied with some stuff. Stressful stuff. Important stuff. Stuff that kept me awake at night and mainlining carbs, dark chocolate and Dr. Pepper during the day.

So you know how I have that anxiety problem?? That didn't exactly help me deal with this stuff very well. Such is life, though. If you don't know the trials, you can't appreciate the joy; It's only after the rain has passed that you appreciate the sunshine; insert comforting homily that helps you get through the day.

But today, TODAY, everything is bright and shiny and the weight on my shoulders feels ten times lighter. You see, CRCT test scores came back today. Stupid, stupid five days worth of standardizing testing scores that, in Fifth grade, are an all-or-nothing deal; if you don't pass the CRCT, you don't go into Sixth grade. Period.

See this girl right here???


She's smart and funny and creative and energetic and a fabulous person in general who, like her equally talented, funny, smart, etc mother, happens to struggle in math. Math is our Waterloo. It's our Spanish Armada attacking the English Navy. It's our Custer's Last Stand. (You get the idea.) We don't need ONE day of STUPID STANDARDIZED testing in math to judge our worth. But sadly the state of Georgia doesn't agree. So she's been prepping all stinking year. Getting extra help and tutoring. Working on extra math work over every holiday break the entire school year. Sweating and cursing the entire time. (Well, I was cursing. Bella doesn't curse, but I expect she will start sometime around the time she encounters Trigonometry.)

Three days into the RIDICULOUS, STUPID, IDIOTIC standardized testing and it was finally time for the math portion. Oy vey. The stress. The worry. The fear. On all of us. No 11 year old should feel that much pressure.

And then, today. TODAY. The test scores come home. Passing grade! A COMFORTABLE passing grade!! No more worry!! No more stress. We are the RUssians, beating back Napolean! We are the English Navy and a fearful hurricane! We are multiple Indian tribes kicking Custer's arse!!!!

But then I remember my baby is going into Middle School in the fall. MIDDLE SCHOOL. She's so little. And young! The worrying starts all over again.

Being The Mom

I was a good mom today.

After I dropped the girls off at school this morning (which I do three mornings a week so we can spend a little more time together), I went by Target and picked up some Secret Santa gifts they needed for their Activity Night Christmas party tonight. Then I went to school and did my thing for four hours. After school I went to Publix and picked up assorted rolls, meats, cheeses and condiments I needed to make the finger sandwiches for 15 people the girls assured their leader I would be happy to make for the aforementioned Christmas party. I came home and made the sandwiches, made lunches for tomorrow, folded three loads of laundry and wrapped the Secret Santa gifts.

The girls couldn't have been more appreciative of my efforts (and I did put in a little extra effort, because I knew they would like it). It's nice to know that they were being completely sincere, because I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they discovering that flattery is a powerful weapon. ;)

I don't get women who beat themselves up over their parenting. Short of being a child abuser or worse, I tend to give most moms the benefit of the doubt and figure that they're doing the best they can on any given day. By that same token, why don't more moms give themsleves a pat on the back when they DO go that extra mile?? Lord knows that there have been many times when I've fallen short of my ideal. But there have been just as many times when I've reached my "Mommy Ideal" for the day and then some!! Is there any reason why I shouldn't find some satisfaction in that?

Nope.

So even though it might not matter to anyone else, I'm going to give myself a little pat on the back for going the extra mile today. It made me feel good to put in a little extra effort (rather than just doing the bare minimum) and it made my girls proud to have ME as their mother. And I'm going to do a better job at noticing the extra efforts put in by other moms out there, because we need all the love we can get.