scribblechic

This afternoon I was eager to capture my daughter’s new camp experience. Embracing a quiet moment to gather my thoughts I was distracted by a nagging awareness I couldn’t quite name. I began looking around the house wondering what was amiss. Looking to the calendar I quickly realized I had misread the camp itinerary for today, confusing it with tomorrow. This morning I packed my daughter’s mess kit for her group’s food preparation activity scheduled for tomorrow. Slowly, my error caught up with me. I had not sent today’s sack lunch.

My realization came moments before I needed to leave and collect my daughter from the bus stop. Negative thoughts chased through my mind. How could I make such an error? I am a horrible mother. What must my daughter have thought? What must the camp counselors think? Then, something unexpected happened.

My daughter’s missing lunch became another adventure woven into her day. She laughed at the “horrible peanut butter and jelly sandwich that wasn’t actually that bad.” The counselors reassured me the oversight was not uncommon, lending me humor and dismissing my guilt. Everything was okay despite my error.

Behind my mistake was a lovely lesson in imperfection. My daughter didn’t feel less loved. The counselors didn’t reprimand me for failure. Instead, my daughter and the counselors helped me to accept my own fallibility. Small moment, big lesson.