I listened to a caller who had spent time creating a poster for her daughter's birthday at school, causing her to be late the event, and it reminded me of a time when I felt being "perfect" was required of me.
In my early 20's after I had recently given birth to a daughter born with heart problems. I was busy cleaning up the apartment and finishing up the dishes when my husband came in and said it was time to go to the hospital. I said I just needed to get things tidied up and would be ready in about 20 minutes. He told me he wanted to go now. I kept working.
When I was done I went out to leave with him, and discovered he had already left for the 30 minute drive. I made the drive alone, in tears. It was then I realized he didn't care if the dishes were clean and put away. He wanted to spend the time with our daughter. Our daughter lived only 4 1/2 months.
I learned a very important lesson that day: people are more important than things. The time we spend with our children and grandchildren is what they remember most. Just the other day, my autistic grandson told me, again, how fun our day at Sea World was and he wants to go again on his next birthday. The day together is more important than any "gift" or toy we could give him.
Children don't want perfection; they just want our time.
Thank you for reminding us of that, and continue to encourage families to make their children and their husbands a priority in their lives.
Gayle
