Inspiration

I've been trying to figure out how to make this statement without offending anyone or coming off all high-and-mighty or something...I can't come up with anything brilliant, so I'm just gonna come out and say it and hope that no one judges me too harshly.  Here goes -

I consider myself a pretty good Mom.  My girls are generally well behaved.  They are intelligent, creative, helpful, compassionate.  They play well together and with other kids.  I know that THEY know that they are loved.

But sometimes I'm not a pretty good Mom.  Sometimes I fall down and screw up or just slide a little bit.  Sometimes my girls are NOT well behaved.  Sometimes they sit down in the middle of an aisle at the grocery store and scream their little heads off for no apparent reason.  Sometimes they tell other little girls "I don't want to play with you".  Sometimes they hit each other and sometimes they don't share.  Sometimes they, out loud, say "Mama, that lady is fat!  Why is she so fat, Mama?" and I want to melt into the pavement.

Like everyone, I take inspiration from the "Big Guys".  The Martin Luther King Jr's of the world, the Mother Teresa's, the Helen Keller's, etc. but I take even MORE inspiration from the stories of the "Little Guys".  The old family friend who in her retirement age takes cell phone calls at all hours of the day to do everything she can to help out the downtrodden in the community.  The Mom who, in her "spare time", starts a nonprofit to help out other Moms who don't have the resources that the rest of us do.  And in the even "littler guys".  We all know the ones!  Those who do everything they can to raise "good" kids.  The ones who always have a smile for you even when it looks a little strained around the edges from lack of sleep or just the world pressing down a little too hard.  Those who offer to watch your kids for you so you can go to work or just get a break.

And here is where it might start sounding a little too high-and-mighty...I can't decide.  It is really my goal to be one of those "littler guys" who is an inspiration to someone.  I am a normal person who falls down a lot but who usually tries REALLY hard and once in a while gets something right.  I want someone to be able to look at me and the work that I'm doing every day and to say, "well, if SHE can do it...then I'm sure with a little effort, I can do it too!" whether "it" is getting your kids to eat broccoli, "it" is taking care of yourself by indulging in a healthy hobby or "it" is simply getting out of bed to do it one more time.

I guess that's Reason #278 for my beginning to jot down my thoughts as a Mom, as an employee, as a business owner, as a wife and a community member.  I'm hoping that someone, somewhere will read my words and they something will hit them just right at just the right time and I will have helped them.  A little.