Shortly after she came into the world, I decided that one of the reasons Lili was born, one of her important spiritual jobs in this life, was to teach me that it's okay to not be perfect. (I wrote about that here.) Sometimes I still forget, even with all of Lil's assistance, that I cannot make everything perfect. I expect that there are mamas with multiple kids out there in the world who find that they are able to keep spotlessly clean houses, cook nutritious meals for their families, volunteer at their kids' schools and at church, sing in seventeen different choirs and still throw perfectly flawless birthday parties for their completely oblivious toddlers. These mamas have excellent time management skills, of course, and they are a delight at dinner parties where they humbly show off their juggling abilities while wearing the same size jeans they wore back in high school.
I am not one of those mamas. I know you're shocked. I had big plans for Lili's birthday. I made detailed lists and envisioned beautiful Sesame Street-inspired delights. The night before the party, I stayed busy enjoying Lili's actual birthday. I cooked dinner and we all ate together. Then we enjoyed cake after singing "Happy Birthday" with numerous "Cha-cha-cha's" thrown in for extra excitement. Afterwards Lili open her presents, and we watched her tickle Elmo (oh yes) until we'd all had enough. That night I went to bed with dirty dishes in my sink, and I did almost nothing to prepare for the next day's party. Gasp!
So you can imagine my horror the next day when, an hour before the guests were expected to arrive, I hadn't even put the chocolate Sesame sheet cake in the oven, my pepperErnie Rolls had not been prepared, all of the ingredients for my lime sherBert punch were still in the basement, and my husband was outside covered in mud and sweat and still in the midst of tearing down our old deck and putting up a new one. (This is how George rolls. He faithfully arrives fashionably late to all of the kids' birthday parties after working on a manly project in the hours leading up to the festivities. We really don't even question it any more.) The decorations were all in place, the tray of Super Grover's super foods had been prepared as had Oscar's trash with slimy worms and cookie monster's cookies, but I had decided at the last minute to add Rosita's vegetarian chili to the menu, and then everything had gotten off track. Oh, the humanity!
Obviously the birthday girl couldn't have cared less about any of these theme-related menu snafus. I heartily recognized this when it was fifteen minutes till party time, and I was sweating bullets and trying to shake her off my leg so that I could finish all of the stuff that I was doing to make her party so perfect....
So... I took a deep breath and remembered what Lili continues to teach me. The small group of friends who were invited were coming to celebrate Lili and not to critique my party planning skills. (One of those wonderful friends had already come over an hour early to rescue me from having a pepperErnie and mozzarella meltdown. Thanks, Kasey!) Then I changed into my party attire, took another deep breath and hugged my toddler. The party guests arrived, and I wasn't ready, but it was all okay because this little monster didn't mind a bit (and it all got done in the end)...
Thanks to sweet Lili for helping me remember to keep things simple. Gushing gratitude to lovely Lili for reminding me that it really is okay to forget to put Big Bird's birdseed bread sticks out on the buffet table. It never was possible to be perfect, and being present is much more important that being perfect. What would we do without you and all of the wisdom and whimsy you bring, little girl?
I am not one of those mamas. I know you're shocked. I had big plans for Lili's birthday. I made detailed lists and envisioned beautiful Sesame Street-inspired delights. The night before the party, I stayed busy enjoying Lili's actual birthday. I cooked dinner and we all ate together. Then we enjoyed cake after singing "Happy Birthday" with numerous "Cha-cha-cha's" thrown in for extra excitement. Afterwards Lili open her presents, and we watched her tickle Elmo (oh yes) until we'd all had enough. That night I went to bed with dirty dishes in my sink, and I did almost nothing to prepare for the next day's party. Gasp!
So you can imagine my horror the next day when, an hour before the guests were expected to arrive, I hadn't even put the chocolate Sesame sheet cake in the oven, my pepperErnie Rolls had not been prepared, all of the ingredients for my lime sherBert punch were still in the basement, and my husband was outside covered in mud and sweat and still in the midst of tearing down our old deck and putting up a new one. (This is how George rolls. He faithfully arrives fashionably late to all of the kids' birthday parties after working on a manly project in the hours leading up to the festivities. We really don't even question it any more.) The decorations were all in place, the tray of Super Grover's super foods had been prepared as had Oscar's trash with slimy worms and cookie monster's cookies, but I had decided at the last minute to add Rosita's vegetarian chili to the menu, and then everything had gotten off track. Oh, the humanity!
Obviously the birthday girl couldn't have cared less about any of these theme-related menu snafus. I heartily recognized this when it was fifteen minutes till party time, and I was sweating bullets and trying to shake her off my leg so that I could finish all of the stuff that I was doing to make her party so perfect....
Oh hello there, my little karmic reminder!
So... I took a deep breath and remembered what Lili continues to teach me. The small group of friends who were invited were coming to celebrate Lili and not to critique my party planning skills. (One of those wonderful friends had already come over an hour early to rescue me from having a pepperErnie and mozzarella meltdown. Thanks, Kasey!) Then I changed into my party attire, took another deep breath and hugged my toddler. The party guests arrived, and I wasn't ready, but it was all okay because this little monster didn't mind a bit (and it all got done in the end)...
Thanks to sweet Lili for helping me remember to keep things simple. Gushing gratitude to lovely Lili for reminding me that it really is okay to forget to put Big Bird's birdseed bread sticks out on the buffet table. It never was possible to be perfect, and being present is much more important that being perfect. What would we do without you and all of the wisdom and whimsy you bring, little girl?
Happy Birthday (again!) to our littlest girl!
"Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear!
Just sing! Sing a song!" ~Joe Raposo
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