A Mother's Love

Today Ava had a holiday party at her school. This is the second or third party her class has had, and each time there are parent volunteers who come in and run the crafts, games, and other activities. About a month ago Ava asked me if I could come help at the upcoming Christmas party. I've always struggled with the logistics, since the party's run from 2-3pm, which is prime naptime. But when I saw how important it was to Ava that I come, I told her I would volunteer and would just figure out the details later.

Fast forward to today: there was no great plan. I just braced myself for a rough day, kept Jocelyn and Molly awake, and headed to the school just before 2pm. It may have been one of the dumbest things I've ever done. I didn't feel like I was much help - I didn't know what was going on and all the other parents at least seemed in on the plan, so I helped "man" the snack table. Meanwhile, Jocelyn was constantly trying to do the activities, some of which was okay but she was NOT happy when she was turned away, and Molly thought it would be fun to take out boxes of blocks, gears, or my personal favorite marbles and DUMP the entire contents onto the floor. I spent more time wrangling the two of them than I did helping any of the kindergarteners. Add to that I am finally getting over this second round of sickness but every I cough I feel like my ribcage is going to rip out of my chest, and the hour was little short of misery from start to finish. Then I had parked at the back of the school, which meant I walked a good quarter of a mile outside from the school to my car - I was literally gasping for breath by the end.

And yet... the whole rest of the day Ava could talk about nothing else than how excited she was that I got to come to her party. While I was there she talked to me only once or twice, but that was the only detail she told her Daddy when he asked about her party: Mommy got to be there. And that's why I did it. I knew for as awful as it could and would be, it meant the world to my daughter that I be there so darn it that's what I was going to do. I'll be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I'll make those extreme sacrifices again anytime soon, but for today it was completely worth it.