After the past few months, it’s time to really celebrate Mom. We’ve had to wear ALL. THE. HATS. and we have rocked(ish?) each and every one.
Even on the roughest days when you’ve tried your best, or made the decision to take a breath and not try at all, you’ve done an amazing job Mama and we see all you do for your family.
With that in mind, it’s time for this year’s Mother of the Year contest!! This is the perfect way to recognize a mom that has been killing the game and tell her exactly what she means to you. The winner will receive an amazing basket of goodies from The Perfect Pig, Lululemon, Destin GulfGate, Amazing Lash, The Henderson, & more!
Here is our 2018 Mother of the Year winner, Rachel Scarbrough, on how she felt to be nominated!
If you are anything like me, being “Mother of the Year” is something I certainly never considered myself even a candidate for!
I mean….raising 4 kids, owning a small business, laundry, groceries, chores, cooking, ball practices, dance lessons, school projects, homework….did I mention laundry?? Let’s face it, when you are juggling so many balls it is just easier to drop 1 or 2 every now & then and let me tell you, I have dropped quite a few balls while juggling this whole motherhood thing! Most days I just pray I get close to getting everything done and get every child where they need to be.
But yes, sometimes I am that Mom that forgets about practice or rolls up 10 minutes late to dance lessons because my kids have activities scheduled at the same time. I am the mom who is late to pick up after basketball practice because my daughter’s art class finished 10 minutes late. I have missed some of my kids’ ballgames because one of my other children has a game or practice at the same time, and I just cannot be in two places at once.
Don’t get me wrong, I have totally embraced the beautiful chaos of motherhood & this life.
I love it and I love my kids with every ounce of my being, but honestly, nothing about any of this describes the Mother of the Year to me…or at least not what I used to think the Mother of the Year looked like.
What is a Mother of the Year anyway? Is she perfect? Does she make those amazing little sandwiches in animal shapes & cucumbers cut out like stars for her kids’ lunches every day? Is she always dressed nice, looking put together & well rested? Is her house spotless & beautifully clean every day? Does she make all organic, healthy, balanced, homemade meals for her family at the level of a master chef?
I used to think these were all requirements to ever even be considered for such a title like Mother of the Year! That is….until I was nominated for it!
I honestly had no clue Destin 30A Moms Blog was doing a Mother of the Year contest, but even if I had known about it, I would never have thought I could even be in the running for that! I mean…remember I am the mom juggling too many balls. I am far from perfect and I don’t make those amazing school lunches with star-shaped cucumbers. Unbeknownst to me, my husband knew about the contest & nominated me.
I was totally taken by surprise when I found out I was a nominee for Mother of the Year. Wait…what?? Oh, no, you cannot really mean me! I am not Mother of the Year material.
Then…shockingly, they told me I won! Wait, what?? Me? No way!
Naturally I asked who nominated me…mainly because I thought they must be off their rocker or made a mistake. It was my husband…the one who knows more than anyone in this world of all my short comings, dropped balls, missed practices, late pickups, & motherhood blunders!
When I read the submission my husband had written about me, it brought tears to my eyes….it was one of the sweetest things I have ever read. The woman he was speaking of was not at all how I viewed myself.
While I was beating myself up on almost a daily basis for not being the perfect mom & seeing myself as less than for falling short in so many ways, my husband saw it totally differently.
He only saw pure love & selflessness, not my mistakes…and there it was in black & white…in print for me to see. I read it a second time to make sure I had read it correctly and I cried again.
If anything, I saw myself as that mother constantly driving the struggle bus who was painfully transparent about her short comings and didn’t try to hide it. I have always openly shared both my past & present struggles with other moms because the truth is, we are all in the same boat at one time or another and we are all struggling to navigate this whole motherhood thing. But Mother of Year material…no way!
As moms, we are so hard on ourselves and we hold ourselves to the highest, unattainable standard…higher than we would ever hold anyone else to. Yet, we think we should meet that standard & exceed it in a super human kind of way every single day without fail.
The truth is Mother of the Year has nothing to do with any of the fore-mentioned things. It is about loving your kids so hard that it hurts, being selfless & putting their needs before your own, and quite frankly, being their go to person for everything. Perfection is not a requirement. It’s hands down the hardest job on the entire planet, but gosh, I wouldn’t trade this motherhood gig for anything in the world!
To all the moms out there juggling too many balls and dropping a few here & there….you are doing an AMAZING job. You are all Mother of the Year in my eyes.
