The pleasure was all mine.

I’m pleased to report that dinner out was mostly a drama free event. Battles for attention, causing the occasional, “Hey so and so, dial it down a notch,” happened, but no legitimate meltdowns. We saved those for the day after. 

I had a rough day. Some days are full of things that smack you in the face with the message that you aren’t appreciated. That no matter what you do, you won’t be enough. Today was that type of day. I imagine everyone feels that way from time to time. It’s hard when it’s your own kids. It’s harder yet when you are raising the children of others. The fact that another mothers child calls me mom each day, is something sad and flattering at the same time. The flip of that is that you’ll never really compare. I’m not their “real” mom and I don’t claim to be. I logically know that I can’t give them that and I am certainly not a replacement. Emotionally, it’s hard to play second fiddle.

So today, when I got home to find one of my favorite, unrelated, teenage pseudo children that don’t live with me, had left me a gift, it made me smile. It wasn’t even the gift. It was the little note with it that she wrote herself that got me. When I was a kid I can remember my Mother telling me she preferred if I made her a gift over something I bought. I tell all my kids I’d rather have a little note than a store bought gift, hands down, every single day. Today, I got both, but my heart needed that note she wrote so much more. 

Thank goodness for those kids that aren’t mine that I am lucky enough to have been able to watch grow into awesome people. There are some that have made me a better person and a better parent. For those kids, I am forever grateful, especially today.