I WANT COFFEE!!!

Last night my daughter, Erin, came creeping up to me about an hour after she had gone to bed. I asked what was wrong and she told me she just wanted to let me know she was sleeping in the guest room. I asked if her sister, Sarah was keeping her awake by snoring. She said, no, it was just the opposite, she just didn't want to keep Sarah awake. I guess Erin had been crying and thought the noise would wake Sarah. I asked her what was wrong. She leaned over on the stairs and cried out "I WANT COFFEE!!" I just stared at the back of her head, trying to figure out if she had a major caffeine addiction that she hadn't told me about or if she was just sleep walking. I managed to ask what she meant. She had left her stuffed animal named "COFFEE" in the hotel room that we had been staying at a couple nights before and now she missed him! I tried not to laugh, afterall, this was serious!

Erin has a few favorite stuffed animals so I was a bit surprised that she was so upset. I decided to dig a little deeper. It turns out that the biggest thing that was bothering her was that it was HER fault. Aaahhh, imperfection! That was the real problem. So we had a little chat about accepting our imperfections. I told her how, after making tons of mistakes myself, I am learning to accept my own imperfections. This is just one of many mistakes she will make in her lifetime and chances are there will be some big ones. I told her that sometimes when I'm feeling really tense about some stupid thing I've done, I just release it. Its as simple as that. I give into the fact that I've made a mistake and I let it go in one great swoosh. Then I can relax and move on...until the next big mistake. I asked her if she could do that and she said, yes. I could see the peace come over her, so I gave her a kiss, tucked her in and said good night. I'm sure she slept tight. Hopefully she can carry the lesson with her through her entire life.