When Life Goes Wrong

  • by Trish Berg
  • September 13, 2013
  • 421
                        
Struggling with loads of laundry, clutter in the kitchen and chaos in your life? Stress can easily steal our joy. Trish Berg reminds us to simplify the small stuff and find Joy in the Journey. When life goes wrong, what is a mom to do? We face so many challenges each day, and we have to find a way to put it all together again. Like piecing together Humpty Dumpty after his fall, moms are responsible for piecing together the puzzles of life whether things go well or not. It’s a big job, but somebody’s got to do it – and I guess that falls to mom. Sometimes the bump in the road is a fairly small one, like being told at nine-thirty at night that your child is responsible for bringing hot dogs and hamburger for the entire marching band for their tail-gating the very next night. Guess mom will make a grocery store run after work tomorrow. Then there’s the missing homework assignment that forces mom to become Sherlock Holmes as she investigates all of the who, where, when and how, and ends up calling another student to obtain a photocopy of the assignment. Oh, there’s the slip-and-fall on the rocks at Edgewater Park that bring mom to meet you and dad at the ER to hold your hand while you get stitches in your leg. There’s the broken oven that causes mom to get creative like Emeril and figure out how to cook everything on the stove-top burners or in the crockpot until there is enough money in the budget for a repair. Oh, and yes, the bills and budget that seem to always be looming, calling my name, due dates that sneak up on us, unexpected car repairs, plumbing issues and appliances that seem to be colluding to all break at the same time. Yes, when life goes wrong, mom is there for you because that is her job. But mom is also there when life goes right. When you win the trophy for showmanship at the county fair, mom is there to take your picture, hug you and embrace your joy. When you lead the marching band through the halftime show by twirling your baton, mom is there to cheer you on as you shine. When you visit colleges trying to figure out where to attend, mom is there to listen to your heart. And when you run the race mom is there along the path to clap and encourage your every step. Moms have great big jobs, and sometimes it is utterly overwhelming. I know I feel completely under-prepared for the tasks at hand and if I spend too much time pondering the job requirements, I want to crawl under a blanket and not come out until spring. But I can’t – because I’ the mom. It has often been said, if mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy, and I can see why. Moms are the barometer of the family, and if we allow life’s demands to get us down, it will also drag our families down. So, mom, chin up. Take a deep breath, let your shoulders relax, and take a step forward today. It may be an uphill climb, but you will get there, one step at a time. And when you hit those bumps in your road, when life goes wrong, remember that we were never promised a rose garden. Life is hard. Life is long and life is exhausting. But when you get to the end of your day, you can rest easy, mom, when all of life’s wrong moments have been made right with a simple “I love you, mom” hug from one of your kiddos. And that makes life so right.


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