A Mother’s Promise

I promise:

~to listen to you.  Because you are clever, funny and insightful.

~to play catch, bake cookies and make crafts with you because we have our best talks when we do those things.

~to not feed you crap…most of the time.  I promise to wash those beautiful, 88-cents-a-half-pint nonorganic raspberries through two off-key versions of “Happy Birthday.”  And also to feed you Fruity-Pebble-encrusted donuts every three months because, hey, life is too short to miss out on something so decadently gross.

~to encourage you in the path you are meant to follow, not the one I think you should take.

~to encourage good hygiene by trimming your fingernails, cleaing your ears and making sure you brush your teeth…because someday you are going to need those habits when want to impress a “crush.”  Not that I like the idea you will be grown-up enough to have crushes, but because I know I can’t keep it from happening.

~to make you practice your multiplication tables, violin and guitar so you discover that practice is the only way to improve and master.

~to not buy you crap…most of the time.  Sometimes that Minion/Elsa/Minecraft Creeper Pez dispenser is, uh, indispensable on a road trip.

~to giggle along with bathroom jokes because they really don’t hurt anyone and because they really are quite funny.

~to listen to you read, to read to you, and to read beside you.  Not because it is part of your homework, but because the love of books is a gift no one can take from you.

~to apologize when I do and say stupid things, because I am not “above the law” and you need to see that I am fallible.

~to make you do chores, not just because Mommy is lazy, but because a sense of responsibility to The Family, ahem, our family (and home), is an important skill to learn.

~to make you watch my favorite childhood movie (The Sound of Music) at least three times a year until you love it as much as I (still) do.

And my most important promise:

~to love you, unconditionally.