I follow a lot of mommy blogs. One in particular, Momastery.  The author of the blog, Glennon Doyle Melton tells stories from her crazy life before parenthood and after. All stories that resonate with me.

Glennon also wrote a book Carry On, Warrior. Have you read it?

Her first chapter is so raw and real. But that’s not really what grabbed me. What grabbed me about this book was the title. Carry On, Warrior. Carry on. Warrior. Carry. On Warrior.

In my life, all I’ve been is a Warrior. It’s not been such a charmed life, but man, there were some fun times, some scary stuff and real “hit the fan” moments. I think how I’ve grown into the woman I am. I think about the message of Carry on, Warrior, and how Glennon emphasizes, that love wins. At the end of the day, it’s all about love.

I think about the word Warrior and its various meanings in my life. I think about the different activities of my day. And in my day to day routine, I find I’m a warrior all over the place.

Traffic Warrior: Someone’s got to run the Rat Race and earn a paycheck.

E-mail Warrior: Seriously, that many emails in my inbox before 10 am?

Lunch Warrior: You don’t want to see me eat lunch in public. That’s why I eat at my desk.

Dinner Warrior: I can fry up some mean chicken nuggets and color-matching french-fries.

Laundry Warrior: Why yes, I ignore the mountain of laundry, stand on top of it and declare myself “Queen of the Castle”!

Love Warrior:  I fiercely love my children, family and friends. Right now I’m mad at our dogs and just can’t show that love lest they think it’s ok to do THAT on the carpet again.

Coffee Warrior: Seriously, people, it is this nectar that keeps this goddess going.

All kidding aside, the message from this book hits home. Carry on, Warrior. This is about making mistakes and moving on. Messing up and making amends. Forgiving and loving.

Daily, I feel that I’m failing: as a woman (I have zero beauty routine. Well, I put mascara and lipstick on at work), as a mom (because I have to work an 8- 5 M-F job out of the home and don’t have that precious daytime with my kids during the summers or afterschool for homework), as a wife (Dear husband, please let me sleep. It’s for your own good), as a daughter (I need to call my Dad more often), as a sister (I should just call my brothers and sisters on a conference call), as the token “Chef du Jour” (how many ingredients does that recipe call for?) and sometimes, as a human (I’m too tired to participate in society today).

All moms have moments of self-doubt and fear they have negatively affected their child’s development and future college entrance exams. I’ve already promised my kids that I’m not perfect, and neither are they.

The best we can do is just figure life out together, make some amazing memories along the way, hold each other up when we are down and pray, that in the end, we all make it to the pearly gates up above the clouds. 

It sucks that motherhood is fleeting. And yes, our Warrior moments happen fast and swiftly merge into another moment.

 And all we can do is carry on the best we can.