OMG...when did I become my mother?!

Do we all fear this? I know I do and have feared it since becoming a mother myself. Funny though, my Mom is really not that bad. In fact, I turned out okay. But realistically, it's the things we don't like about our mothers that we fear "inheriting" the most, we forget all the good traits we probably don't mind.

For me, what I don't like the most is her tardiness (she's been known to be an hour or more late!); last minute wrapping of gifts, especially at Christmas; her constant movement, never resting or napping; her inability to plan in advance and well, that's good for now.

Yesterday, on my child's 4th birthday I turned into my mother. I ran around all day trying to make the day (and the planning for two additional birthday parties this weekend) perfect. I was wrapping presents at the last minute, late to get to my daughter's school and really crabby by that time because I ran around all day with no time for anything else.

But guess what? It all ended up fine. I didn't wrap two of the presents and Sydney could have cared less, her class at school wasn't ready for the party for 30 minutes once I got there, we didn't sign her card but she only wanted to play with the castle it turned into anyway.

My lesson and something I continue to work on: my idea of perfection and need to create it typically do not matter to those I love or who love me. They just want my time and energy spent on being with them. I was so exhausted last night that I had to go to bed right after Sydney, not being able to spend anytime with my hubby.

You know what, being a mom, wife, employee and so many other things each day is exhausting, we don't need to add more pressure to be perfect. I bet my mom would agree! And by the way, I do have to give my mom credit for coming a long way on working on the things I mentioned above. And from one mom to another, we have to give each other a break sometimes, right? Because we don't often enough give ourselves a break.

Here's to not being perfect, just present every day with those who matter most!