When It All Pays Off ...

I had one of those "It's All Worth It!" Motherhood moments this morning -- the kind of moment where you see all of your teaching, all of your befrazzled states, all of your repetition "pay off," so to speak. Just a few seconds ... but it was there.

This morning I had a few errands to run -- replenish our coffee supply, milk and bread, that sort of thing. As I grabbed my keys, I suddenly remembered that months ago, Aidan -- after winning a reading contest in school -- had received a gift card to a local book store. This particular shop just so happened to be near the grocery store I needed to patronize, so I thought the kids would enjoy a nice little unexpected surprise. Aidan was thrilled, having himself forgotten this gift, and he asked if he could carry it in his pocket.

The kids opened the front door and stepped onto the porch. As I fumbled with my keys in order to lock the door, "The Moment" occurred, out of the blue ...

"Grace, listen," said Aidan to his little sister. "I have $10 to spend at the book store. You may spend half of it. That means you have $5 to spend, and I have the other $5. Would you like that, Grace? I'll help you pick out a good book."

I turned around and stared at my boy. He smiled and shifted a little, unsure of why I was looking at him. I smiled back, then gave him a big hug. I told him how proud I was of him, how amazing that gesture was. He beamed at the praise -- and rightly so.

Those moments don't last very long, as this afternoon a simple writing project took me two hours to complete, due to the constant bickering and interruptions. But the point is that" The Moment" did happen ...

.. and it was simply beautiful.