So long to ink and hello to lead.

If there is one thing I have had to learn about being a mom it's that you never mark your calendar in ink. Everything is penciled in with the underlying thought that at any moment something more important could come up for your children or they may just start running a fever and puking out of nowhere.

But I made the mistake of getting super excited about the Brooke Fraser concert tonight, which we have had tickets for, for over a month. I have been begging my husband to take me to a concert for years....literally. But we all know tickets aren't cheap and just when you have found them priced right you realize that tour date conflicts with prior commitements or it's in Canada. But we found these tickets over a month ago, the concert is about 25 minutes from our house and they were $20! We even booked our sitter weeks ago. NOTHING was going to stop us from going to this concert until Cola puked all over Mario and began to run a fever.

We knew what we had to do but neither wanted to do it. I called the sitter, cancelled and began to rack my brain who we could surprise with free tickets. I quickly remembered our realtor and friend who loves Brooke say she wanted to go but needed to watch her spending. She accepted our offer and her son will be here shortly to grab the tickets for them.

Cola's in a very deep sleep right beside me. I can feel how hot she is and I smell "sick". Sickness does have a smell. I'm not talking about puke but "sick". At the end of everyday, no matter how many messes I've cleaned, how many shirts I've had to change, how many tantrums I've had to soothe or how many viruses I've contracted a supernatural motivation comes upon me. It soothes my heart and calms my mind letting me know it's worth it, motherhood, that is. Motherhood is worth it. And after it soothes and calms it strengthens. I cash that strength in every morning for endurance knowing that I CAN make it through another day.

Have you ever felt really alone? And then felt the presence of God just for even a few seconds? The presence of one God makes you feel in the company of 1,000 supporters who love you. That's just like motherhood. You can be sick for days and care for everyone but yourself, cancel all of your plans, go without a shower and then comes their first steps or a faint smile and it's as though you have witnessed a lifetime of goodness in one single moment and you know it's worth it. The worth of that one single moment devalues the rest.

In twitter slang #grateful