Go easy on yourself: no one is perfect!

A couple of days ago I was bringing my daughter to school and waiting in her line with all of her classmates and one of them turned to me and said, “I lost a tooth while I was at the dentist yesterday! It was so loose that it just fell right out while they were cleaning it!”

 Wow was my response and of course I asked about a visit from the tooth fairy.

 “No,” he said, “It happened too late in the day for the tooth fairy to make it.”

 And I knew just what he was saying, as that has happened at our house too but we thought the tooth fairy must have just had too many stops to fit into one night and so we try again the next night.

And as I waved good-bye to the kids that morning I knew that even with all of our bumblings around trying so hard to keep it together and messing up around the edges – it was good enough.

 And through it all we are not alone. We are together. We are all doing the best we can and we are all bumbling up here and there. We each have our own unique story but we share this common experience that is life, and with life comes imperfection. And with imperfection comes humanity. And with humanity comes, as God said, good.

 So be gentle with yourself. Do your best and then know deep inside of you that you are giving your very best and that it is not supposed to be perfect. It is supposed to be human and full of love. Some bumbles are big and messy and some are small and momentary. But whatever the size, when the next bumble comes up in your life, love yourself, love the others around it, and know you are living out what life looks like. Even with this bumble, you are good.


Christine D’Amico