Every night at dinner, I ask my kids to tell me what was the best thing about their day, and what was the worst thing.

My daughter often tells me that the worst part was not having a pop quiz. Which is followed by me thinking to myself, “Please, please, please, let her continue to be a freak of nature and LOVE school so much that the most horrible thing she can think of is that she wasn’t challenged enough.” The best part of her day is usually that she did something cool in science class, or that she and her best friend have come up with yet another secret handshake.

My son starts with the worst part of his day, and it always varies. It can be that a friend didn’t share the bike at school, or that he was sad when his sister got hurt at soccer practice, or that he was punished for not listening.

Then I ask him, “What was the BEST part of your day?”

And, without fail, every single night, he will look around the room at all of us, point at the dinner table and say, “This”.

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I started working again last week. More or less, I have been out of the work-force since late 1998, when my daughter was born. For those, like me, who are math impaired…that’s nine years.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve kept pretty busy with my two preemie kids. For awhile, my son’s therapy, doctor’s appointments, insurance hassles and healthcare needs were a full-time job. But now, he’s five and in preschool. He even eats lunch there. He doesn’t need me so much anymore.

My daughter has become little Miss Self-Sufficient lately. I woke the other day to find her in the kitchen packing her lunch for school. Little does she know, her chore list is about to get a lot longer. Momma’s gonna need a hand.

That leads me to the real purpose of this post. I have always given accolades to working Moms and Dads (to the youngsters in the house…that means something like mad props). But, I was short-changing them by saying things like, “I don’t know how you do it”. I should’ve been saying, “You are amazing because you do it”. People who have something left to give to their kids when they have been working all day…well quite frankly, that’s just unbelievable…and at this point, it baffles me.

I’m still trying to find out how it works, how you juggle all these responsibilities. But, I’m excited and ready for the challenge. I want my children to know that you need to be determined and keep your nose to the grindstone. I want them to see that you can have your cake and eat it too. That you can be a successful employee, a caring Mom, a great friend, and still have time to take care of yourself!

Either that, or I’ll show them that if you bite off more than you can chew, you end up choking and falling over dead. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

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Last night, my husband and I had a rare night out with friends. We had a few beers, some pizza, good conversation, then went downtown for a play. There’s nothing quite like hanging out with good friends…friends with whom you can discuss politics and religion, have differing views, then end up laughing about old Seinfeld clips a few minutes later. Friends who have seen you at your best and worst. Friends who have helped you when you’ve most needed them. Friends you could call anytime, day or night, and they’d be there for whatever reason. Friends you can’t even be embarrassed in front of, no matter how hard they might try to embarrass you.

We had a nice evening without the kids around. No noses or butts to wipe, no food to make that someone won’t want to eat, no baths to give, no crying, no injuries, no toys to clean up, and no arguments between siblings. As we were laughing over dinner, I couldn’t help but think how good it felt to be there.

When we got home, we paid the babysitter, let the dog out, checked e-mail, cleaned up the kitchen, and watched the news. We did all the boring, ho-hum stuff we always do. After I put on my pj’s, I went into my daughter’s bedroom like I do every other night. I tucked her in, kissed her on the forehead, and then went to my son’s room. I took about twenty toys and books out of his bed and kissed his forehead…but last night, instead of tucking him in, I climbed under the blanket with him.

And, as I snuggled up next to him and watched him sleep, I couldn’t help but think how good it felt to be there.

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