Once upon a time, K.C. Willivee thought she could be the perfect mom. But when reality intruded, she ended up with a better story....

The piece was originally published on http://redtri.com. You can read it in its entirety here:
http://redtri.com/how-i-learned-to-le...

I hope you enjoy it and I welcome your comments!



I wanted to be a perfect mom.

And what perfect meant to me might be different than what it means to others. I wasn’t looking for an immaculate home and gourmet dinners on the table, but for shared adventures and infinite patience and somehow always the time to read just one more story. Perfection meant following every rule, every single time, to optimize my daughter M’s physical, intellectual, emotional, moral, artistic and athletic development.

So when I had a chance to quit work and move to Puerto Rico for my partner’s job transfer, I was thrilled. All the competing demands and complications of my career eliminated in one fell swoop, leaving me with my family as my primary focus. M was 30 months old and I had been back at work since she was 12 weeks. But no more. Bliss!


Spoiler alert: I didn’t turn out to be very perfect.

But I really did try.