Perfection

I'm sitting alone in my hotel room, thinking back to last summer’s vacation. It was wonderful—Skylar's excitement at being in a hotel right by the beach, Shedia’s joy, and my own eagerness to spend quality time together, free from the usual daily routines.

But despite all these beautiful moments, my mind keeps circling back to a single incident at the pool.

It was Skylar's first time swimming. She was thrilled, and I was happy to see her excitement. But, in one brief moment when my guard was down, Skylar jumped off the steps directly into the water. She didn't yet understand that pools aren't shallow everywhere—and just like that, she was at the bottom of a two-foot-deep pool.

It lasted only seconds, but those seconds felt endless. I felt like I had failed. I wasn’t alert. I wasn’t watching closely enough. I hadn’t protected her.

Parenting, I've learned, is full of moments like these—moments when you feel you've let your child down, moments when you're caught off guard, despite your best intentions. I keep reminding myself of this, even as the guilt occasionally resurfaces.

The next day, determined to make the pool experience safe and enjoyable, we went out and got Skylar a pool-safe life jacket and floaties. She deserved fun, carefree days, and we deserved peace of mind knowing she was safe.

Parenting is learning. Parenting is adjusting. And above all, parenting is forgiving yourself for the moments you couldn't anticipate but committing to do better each day.

Later,

DD