During my first year of teaching, which stands out in my biography as one of the toughest years I survived, a veteran teacher gave me some good advice. It was about this time of the year, when the routine of cranky teenagers and crankier parents was wearing me down, and I complained that teaching was SO HARD. My start-of-the-year enthusiasm was waning, and I needed a boost to keep up with the tedious schedule of repeating myself 6,000 times a day with the mantra “sit down and be quiet!”
“Anyone can be a good teacher for a day,” the older and wiser colleague told me, “figure out how to be good at it every day for nine months.”
Over the next fifteen years, I’ve realized that’s really good advice for life. “Anyone can be a good wife for a day, figure out how to serve your spouse every single day” or “Anyone can be a runner for a day, figure out how to be good at running everyday” “Anyone can make one good meal, learn to cook healthy delicious meals every day” or “Anyone can be a good mom for a day, figure out how to embrace the kids’ constant temper tantrums, never-ending messes, and lack of appreciation EVERY day.”
Of course, let’s be honest, I haven’t really mastered this advice. Every night, after explaining to the kids that “Yes, we have to do homework again tonight,” and “Really, with stripping your clothes and throwing them all over the house?” and “OhMyGoodness, I don’t think I can engage in this many knock-knock jokes in one day,” I’m done. I don’t believe that I have it in me for another day.
But, (who would have thought?), I do. And the next day. And the day after that. Even though there are those days that, as I tuck the kids in, they ask, “Why are you so tired? And grumpy, Mommy?” God still gives me the energy (and enthusiasm sometimes) to do it all over again the next day.
Here’s one lesson He has taught me about surviving day after day: move on.
The key is to forgive and forget. That’s the secret to being a teacher who loves it everyday or a mom who happily says “who’s there?” (over and over) when she knows the answer won’t make sense, or the mom who smiles about body paint at bedtime (pictured on Sam, above).
I get how hard this is, because I could have earned a PhD in how to hold a grudge. If I indulged myself, I could list every single person who has let me down, who didn’t live up to my expectations, who has screwed me over, and who has taken advantage of me. Oh, not to mention those who don’t appreciate how hard I’ve worked on something that they totally took for granted.
See? I’m so good at NOT moving on.
But the lesson of MOVE ON is one important cog in the machine of being a mommy who starts fresh everyday. Forgiving the kids for their temper tantrums and house-wide strip shows and general lack of appreciation sure helps me love being a mommy the next day….
….when it all starts over again.