We had a bad day today.

At least it felt like it to me.

Everything was going wrong,

everyone was acting up,

it was the Mondayest of Mondays.

The kids were fighting,

I was fighting to keep my patience and wits about me,

and it all came to a head on the drive home from Target after an exhausting and embarrassing late-in-the-day grocery run.

I yelled.

They went silent.

And then, upon our arrival back home, they went to their rooms as directed.

Mommy needed a minute.

Okay, Mommy needed like 20 minutes.

Truth?

Mommy could really use some hours.

To shop in peace.

To think in peace.

To simply BE in and at peace.

I feel guilty for saying that,

I feel guilt for feeling like that

and I feel bad that I couldn't (perhaps wouldn't) find a way to turn the day around for all of us.

And then came the showers;

where I send each of us when we need to

decompress,

collect our thoughts

and align our behavior with how we really feel in our hearts.

And my youngest, age 5, did just that, leaving for me and my shower some love, in the shape of hearts, on the shower door.

We had a bad today, but a bad day doesn't make me a bad mom or them bad kids.

It means we had a day that taught each of us a little bit more about ourselves and each other, and it's thanks to those less than perfect days that we learn how to love and lean on each other when life or any of our days doesn’t deliver to us exactly what we expected or hoped.