"There are a lot of things you did right"

This is written on a piece of paper that was given to me by someone special.  Someone who helped my husband and me through a very difficult time in our marriage.  It was written as a reminder of what he said to me when I was in a very low place, thinking myself a complete failure as a mother.  I still have the piece of paper and I will keep it as a reminder that, indeed, "there are a lot of things I have done right".  This is not meant as boasting on my part.  Whatever I have done right, I have only done it with the grace of God.

As parents, I think it is far easier to beat ourselves up about what we have done wrong; to relive the regrets that we carry heavy on our backs.  Balance is necessary to find a place where we can accept our reality while striving for improvement - always improvement.  Balance - so elusive.

Looking back I realize that I am an attachment-style mother (we are attachment parents).  I never really had any reason to define it.  But I can so closely relate to this message that it made me stop and think.  This is one of those things I (we) did right - by God's grace.