Motherhood and Guilt

Disclaimer:  The picture above was not a part of my Easter celebration....

If there is one thing about mothering that took me by surprise, it's the guilt. I think we would be hard pressed to find a mother who has not dealt with it one way or another.  My husband has told me that my default is guilt. He is right, and I hate that about myself. Certain things can bring it about. My biggest triggers are holidays and new situations. Of course, piled on is a brand new media  with Facebook and Pinterest that can take it to a whole new level. (Not knocking Facebook or Pinterest. They have their place.)

Yesterday was Easter. All in all we had a great one. But there was this guilt. Trying to give Baby M a happy Easter with cute pictures for his new family didn't help. In my mind, I had pictured his chubby hand holding a dyed Easter Egg. I had imagined making a video of him hunting for brightly colored plastic eggs, gleeful smile and all. It didn't happen. We accidentally overslept. Then when we got downstairs, we saw presents and Peeps and baskets with the paper grass strewn all over the table and floor. We realized that Indigo, our crazy Australian Shepherd dog, had eaten all the jelly beans. Thank God he left the chocolate alone! I quickly salvaged what I could, and none was the wiser. We quickly got ready for church and once we got there, I realized I forgot to restock the diaper bag the night before.Then it rained all afternoon so no egg hunt happened.

Motherhood and guilt. We all want these picture perfect moments but the reality that is not always possible. In fact, those flawless moments are few and far between and most of our time we find ourselves quickly scrambling to keep one step ahead of them. One day, maybe we will look back at these days and realize they were the best days, flaws and all.