Never, Ever Give Up

"Winning is not about headlines and hardware [medals]. It's only about attitude. A winner is a person who goes out today and every day and attempts to be the best runner and best person he can be.  Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up." 

~Amby Burfoot, Editor-at-Large, Runner's World~

I receive daily quotes via email from Runner's World. Many I skim and delete, but on occasion, one will jump out at me and stick with me. This is one of those quotes. Interestingly, it does not seem to be haunting me as it relates to running, but as to parenting.  

As parents, we all have those days where we doubt ourselves and our abilities as parents.  Yesterday was one of those days.  No need to go into details, but it was just one of those disappointing and frustrating days with some of my kids. Some stuff was little, other stuff was bigger, but at the end of the day I was just feeling emotionally spent and inadequate. As a result, I had little grace left for my husband and we went to bed angry as well. 

I woke up this morning feeling a little leftover sadness, but mostly irritation at myself, thinking about things I could have done differently, wondering if it might have changed the outcome of the evening. But I got up, received a sweet hug from Mark and started feeling better.  I opened this email and read this quote and found my eyes just eating up the words, revising them in my mind:

Parenting is not about awards. It's only about attitude. A good parent is a person who goes out today and every day and attempts to be the best parent and best person he can be.  Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up.

 I'm certainly not a perfect person and hardly a model parent. Some days - like yesterday - I go to bed just feeling like I've blown it, like my kid are going to blame me to their therapists. And there is that tiny fear that certain kids might just be boneheads indefinitely. ;)  But being a good parent is a struggle (sometimes more than others) and requires effort and optimism.  And never, ever, ever giving up. On my kids, or on myself. 

So I walked upstairs to wake my little troublemakers up for the day. And one of them snuggled up against me, threw an arm around my neck and whispered, "I love you mom."  

And I knew it would be okay. Somehow, we'd be okay.