through someone else's eyes

Today I went to three parent teacher conferences, one for each of my school-age children. The first conferences of the year are for all the parents, whereas later in the year you only have to go to one if the teacher is concerned about your child. I don't expect to have to go back this year. But bragging about how wonderful my kids are doing in school isn't why I am posting (even though they are!) My favorite moment this afternoon was in my 3rd grader, Hailey's, class. Her teacher handed me an assessment Hailey had done for language arts. She was supposed to write a letter to an imaginary pen pal.

As it was supposed to be the first letter she had written to the pal, Hailey was introducing herself and her family. I got to the part about her parents (Hubby and I.) She wrote, "My Dad works at a restaurant. It is called Noodles and Company. My mom doesn't work. She runs." I laughed out loud at the fact that my daughter sees me as a runner. Laughed, and then was very, very flattered and mushy about it. It was one of the sweetest things I could have read today. And the next sentence was "She works out every morning." I was so glad that those are the things that Hailey has been seeing me do.

Those sentences could have said "She sits and watches TV all day." A few years ago, heck, sometimes even a few months ago, that would have been true. Or "She yells." Or even "I don't know what she does all day." But the answers she gave made me feel good about what I have been doing, the progress I have been making, and what my children are noticing.

Even though I may see the ways I fall short or fail, in my child's eyes, I am succeeding.