The Choices Parents Make

The call came while I was cleaning and doing laundry on Sunday. My daughter was at one of her infamous 72-hour sleepovers.

"Mama, can you take me and Ashley to the mall?'

"Honey, I'm trying to clean house. This is the only day of the week I can really get all the laundry done."

Immediately I felt bad. My daughter was asking a simple request and I was shoving it aside. Which would she remember? A "no" because mom is too busy or a "yes" because she's more important? Which would I want her to remember?

"Okay, you girls get ready and I'll come get you."

So I began my journey to her friend's house and then proceeded to the mall where I, as the taxi service, dropped them off, and, as an ATM machine, allowed my daughter to withdraw funds from me. Then I returned home to my cleaning.

An hour went by. The phone rang.

"Mama, we're bored. There's no one at the mall. Would you take us to Joni's house?"

I switched out the washer and dryer and headed to the mall. After dropping the girls off, I went to the gym to renew a membership, passing some time while I waited to pick the girls up.

I went to pick them up and then had to run them back out to Ashley's house. They talked me into extending the sleepover one more night. I would meet my daughter in the morning at school with her cheerleading outfit which she has to wear on Mondays.

So all in all, my laundry was finally finished much later in the evening. Still, my time was spent in the most valuable way: making myself available for my daughter. In the end, how she remembers yesterday is all that really matters.