Competition Day

I have a test in Science due by Monday at midnight. On my last three tests I've scored an 86, a 75 and a (gulp) 59. So I really need to get my science mojo in action and figure out how to wrap my mind around this Physics stuff. So what am I doing today? I'm about to head to the high school, board a school bus and go with the band to their first competition. We won't get home until near midnight.

Why do I do this? Because I think it's important for the kids to see me involved in their lives. Right now, I'm pretty much viewed as their personal maid, secretarial, food and organizing service. But one day they, too, will be moms and they'll understand just how much you have to put aside of your wants and wishes and what's best for you so you can be there for your kids. My own mom went back to get her Master's degree when my sisters and I were kids. I don't remember it making a difference to me because, heck, I was a selfish kid wrapped up in my own world.

I just hope I can find the correct balance between being their for my kids but not letting my kids feel like I'm their whole world. I see parents who are so caught up in their own lives, that their kids are no where near a priority list. But then I see parents who have no lives whatsoever because they live through their kids.

At the end of the day, I want my kids to grow up and look back on their childhood and feel like they were supported but not suffocated, that I was there for them but not a mini-them, and that I went to bat for them but allowed them to work through, and sometimes suffer through, their mistakes and the life lessons that they need to learn to be a mature adult.

But in the meantime, better take a potty run, go through my bag and make sure I have everything I'll need and take the dogs out. It's going to be a really long day.