Memory Stickers

As a Mom, I find myself anxious and excited to find out which memories my cute boys will retain as adults. In my dreams, they remember all my sacrifices, quiet moments snuggling them to sleep, and trips that cost us money, energy, creativity, and time to put together for them.
In reality, I know they'll go through some disgusting teenage years, with brains wired to rebel & hate, and will probably only remember this:




Instead of this:




And this:




Instead of this:




I pray they'll forgive me for those tiny, negative snapshots in their childhood that stand so enormous in their little long term memory banks. I hope they understand the mistakes I make only account for 10% of my parenting, and that other 90% is pretty awesome. I hope they feel there is no other Mom as amazing as theirs. I pray.
So, when mistakes happen, I try really hard to follow them with positive stickers. I rub at that little negative like a smudge on a dry erase board, and hurriedly snatch up my positive sharpie marker, ready to create something prettier for their lil hard drives.
And then it happens... every random once in a while, when I'm just about exhausted from dancing around for Memory Stickers, one shines through:




Last week JD gave me a Mother'a day card. In it, he had to fill out a questionnaire, detailing his favorite things about his Mom. I nearly cried when I read this:



"We like to ___________ together."

JD writes "find seashells."

I win.

- Mrs. Akers