We were sitting down to dinner in a far away Fazoli’s in a very far away town. Our preschooler suddenly realized she didn’t have her favorite lovey. It was very far away at home. She exclaimed “We must turn around and go an get it!” And then it happened: Her bottom lip puckered out, she took her little hands – placed them over her little eyes and proceeded to cry very big tears. As a mom, I felt HORRIBLE. Yes, there could have been self defensive lectures of taking responsibility for things or exploring the adventure of not having a lovey, but the reality was that I completely let her down.

The remainder of the ride to the hotel was filled with opportunities to purchase a friend for her lovey, ice cream and her sister trying to help encourage her that the grass could be greener on the other side for a few short days with out her favorite lovey. But she wasn’t giving in. She was heartbroken and I still felt horrible. When we got to the hotel, we climbed into bed and I offered one more time the most sincere apology I could muster up for forgetting her lost lovey. Then she offered me one of biggest memories and lesson I will always cherish as a Mom: “That’s okay Mommy, I forgive you.” My heart melted.

As moms, sometimes it is harder to forgive ourselves than others, especially when the disappointment effects our children. There are huge nuggets of wisdom to be found from our children: Our attention span for our mistakes can be short like preschoolers’ and forgiveness for ourselves as big as their hearts.

No mommy’s perfect…and I’m so grateful that we don’t have to be.