Ah-ha!

All Mom's have them, those moments when something connects and you just go Ah-ha!
Where you realize what it is that matters most and how foolish you have been.
Here's one of mine, with 4 kids I've had a few but this one
sticks out in my mind more than most.

One day in the summer I was camping out with my kids in their room. It was a little too hot for them to play out for long and I had to keep the 3 of them entertained. We had built a tent town out of many blankets and sheets and were just crawling from tent to tent playing and I was trying to read to them when they would allow it. They were having a blast, my oldest was about to start school in the fall and I wanted to spend every minute I could with her before that. All of the sudden there was a knock on the door. What? No one ever comes to visit in the middle of the day while my husband is at work; it’s probably just Jehovah Witnesses so I go to the door. NO! It’s my brother-in-law, he was out this way and decided to stop in and play with the kids for a few minutes. You should have been here, my house was an absolute wreck, you couldn’t go into their room for all of the tents (which when looked at from the outside just looked like a chaos) and the lunch “mess” was still everywhere on the table. I suffered through his visit, apologizing many times for the untidiness and cleaning while he played with my children. After he left I was upset for days thinking about what people must think about me. “Oh my, have you seen her house? It is just disgusting!” So I went into cleaning mode and ignored my children, I cleaned while they watched TV and entertained themselves. I don’t remember at this point which one of them it was or exactly what they said but I got the mommy don’t you love me anymore question and my mind went Ah-ha! That is what matters!! What others think of me or my housekeeping skills will be of no relevance 10 years from now. How my kids feel about themselves and about me WILL. Yes I have to clean and cook and etc. etc. but that does not have to be my whole life. If my house is a little dirty today, so be it. The question is- Are my kids happy and well adjusted? It takes time to raise kids right and yes they have the right to live in a clean environment and be fed but I’m sure if you ask them that is not their biggest concern.

This was entered into a contest at Relishing Motherhood.