Month-o-Love Day 11: Bounce

Day 11:  I heart...

Silly Putty

Do you remember this stuff?  When I was 6 and 7, I could sit for hours with the Sunday paper, sticking the Silly Putty to the comic strips and then slowly peeling it off.  And then, right there in my hand was Archie talking to Veronica.  Then I'd smash it (sorry, Archie) and start all over.

My Mom (the kids call her "Grammy") is a smart cookie and found these "eggs" of Silly Putty at Target.  She always keeps them in her purse so the kids have something to do when the restaurant wait is long, or we are stuck somewhere where little hands need to be occupied.

Silly Putty is pretty amazing.  You can stretch that stuff out as much as you want, and it always bounces back into its original blob state.

It's very resilient.

Yesterday I read the blogs of 2 very good friends who questioned whether or not they are good Moms.  They were second-guessing themselves and feeling guilty about things that turned out less-than-perfectly for their kids.  The irony?  These blogs were written by the "best" Moms I know.  The ones you study so you can be like them.  The ones who have their acts together.

Life is tough, and as Moms, we set a very high standard for ourselves.  And when Valentine boxes don't get made on time, or things fall through the cracks, it's easy to beat ourselves up and doubt our value.  It stems from wanting to be great Moms who teach our kids to be great people.

But maybe we should learn a lesson from our kids.  Resiliency.  Seriously, kids are like Silly Putty.  They have an ability to bounce back a whole lot easier than we do.  

So let's carry our full plates, knowing that occasionally things will fall off.  And life will go on.  Let's learn to laugh more at ourselves and with ourselves, and feel less guilt for life being, well, the way it is -- busy, fast, tough, overwhelming.  

Let's just be Silly (Putty).