Move over June Cleaver

I am a very determined person. Sometimes too determined. I've lived in the mindset where I have to be like June Cleaver or I'm a total failure at life. I wanted to be the woman that always has a clean house, dinner on the table for her husband, always looks like she could be on the cover of a magazine and still has time to play with the kids. Reality hit me hard in the face this morning when I woke up two hours later than I planned, missed praise and worship practice, barely made it to church. My hair was half dried and my baby wasn't fed. I had to feed her during worship just to make sure we made it on time. 10 o'clock right on the dot. That's when we arrived. Which is late for me. I am not a 'get-there-right-on-time' kind of person. I like being prepared. I felt an extreme amount of guilt from the pressure I so often put on myself to be perfect. I know, I know.....there's no such thing as "perfect", but whatever is the closest thing to being perfect....that's what I want to be. Then I realize that I am this girl's mother. It's no easy task doing what I do. Even if my hair is frizzy, my house is a mess and there's chaos all over....I'm still the one person this girl wants at the end of the day. I'm still needed. I'm still important to her. She doesn't notice if I'm not perfect, because to her, I'm all she needs. When I look at my baby girl it makes me realize that there's room for flaws. I don't want her growing up thinking that it's not ok to mess up. I'd love to have all my ducks in a row all of the time, but there are just some days when crap happens and you have to roll with the punches. That's another part of being a mom. I'm learning as I go that the 'perfect' mom is just a mom that loves her kids and puts their needs before her own. At the end of the day, that's the important thing.