16 Comments
User's avatar
Lynn Cady's avatar

I'm absolutely sure that Marshall has had freak outs too. You don't get to be that good without the empathy that comes from failing miserably and learning from the failure.

Expand full comment
Mary Hutto Fruchter's avatar

Wise Lynn. I was thinking that too and almost wrote that in. I am going to lean into this idea this week, that these freak outs are just how we become that good.

Expand full comment
Kara Norman's avatar

Really relating to this idea lately! Just put this sticky note on my desk, quoting somewhere I don’t remember now: Go for progress, not perfection 💞

Expand full comment
Sandra de Helen's avatar

But wait. Did Seabass get cleats? Did he get the ones he wanted? What happened when you all showed up late for soccer? I want the whole story, please. But not if it stresses you out, of course. lol

Expand full comment
Mary Hutto Fruchter's avatar

Seabass did get cleats. They are super cool and cost less than half the cost of the Mbappé cleats. We arrived at soccer and what pretty much always happens when we freak out happened, a whole lot a nothing. He had a great time playing, and we reset for the next practice and made it on time. He did find two typos when he read the post after publishing so maybe I should hire him as an editor and he can put that towards his next pair of cleats.

Expand full comment
Alex Dobrenko`'s avatar

I loved this, sharing with Lauren!

also lol'd at this - I tell her as I eat my salad. (I may have been eating something less healthy, but I can’t be expected to remember all the details.)

Expand full comment
Kara Norman's avatar

I had a freak out tonight with my oldest. Ughhhh. Lame! I’d like to blame my hunger pre-dinner 😬😬 My grandmother was my favorite teacher and she’s gone now. The void is probably being filled by the natural world and books for the time being. I’m actually feeling a real void of mentors right now in a way that I feel acutely aware of ❤️‍🩹 Here for all the clunky chunky ceramics the world can produce! My local community center sells extras students forget to pick up and I’m always snapping up their sweet hand-made wares…

Expand full comment
Mary Hutto Fruchter's avatar

Thanks for reading Karen. Tomorrow's a new day. Love is not in getting it right all the time, or even most of the time. It's in the repair. I know this all too well. That community center sounds dreamy.

Expand full comment
Kara Norman's avatar

I wish for everyone the feels my community center gives me. Retirees, quiet, old school building, locker room full of gossiping people <3 thank you for this reminder, I needed that.

Expand full comment
Mary Hutto Fruchter's avatar

Beautiful

Expand full comment
Kristy Acevedo's avatar

Been there! I’m at the stage of parenting where my youngest is about to spread her wings to college, but the pit of my stomach and the nagging anxiety that she is not ready (but really, I’m the one who’s not ready).

Expand full comment
Mary Hutto Fruchter's avatar

Have you read Braiding Sweetgrass Kristy? If not, I think you might really like it. The way she writes about motherhood and transitioning from a mom of little ones to bigger ones to mothering the earth and community will always stick with me. We are getting closer to this time of life with our oldest.

Expand full comment
Kristy Acevedo's avatar

Going on my TBR list. Thanks!

Expand full comment
Jen Zug's avatar

Mmmmmm... I resonated with this. I’m good at a lot of things, and I don’t like it when I’m not good at some things. I remember frantically scouring parenting books about sleep when my baby was not sleeping. I wasn’t listening to my gut or to my baby, rather I was panic-reading “experts” who didn’t know either of us our our situation. In retrospect, as the parent of a now 20yo, I wish I knew to burn the books and trust my gut more. I’m the mom. I’m the expert of my child, even if I don’t always know what that means. But at the time I was desperate for someone else to tell me what to do.

Expand full comment
Mary Hutto Fruchter's avatar

Thanks for sharing Jen and for sharing this post with others. That brings back memories of the sleep schedule we tried to follow with Anna. So much pressure. It is hard especially at first when you feel like there’s more that you don’t know than what you know. I’m learning to listen to myself better as I age, too, or at least I’m trying.

Expand full comment
Mary Hutto Fruchter's avatar

Thanks so much for reading and sharing. I know I did something right if it’s worthy of a spouse share. I’m so glad I made you laugh. I get such a kick out of putting the joy and laughter in- it’s my favorite part of writing right now.

Expand full comment