“Mothers have to pretend to be perfect[.] If we didn't, anarchy would rule the world. But most of the time we're just doing the best we can and trying to get better at it everyday”

“We're [parents]) always bluffing, pretending we know best, when most of the time we're just praying we won't screw up too badly.”

“Life is mostly hard and sometimes we don't feel that we have accomplished anything at all. But if, in your everyday life, you do the absolute best at whatever you try, the accomplishment is in the doing”

“Some days, doing "the best we can" may still fall short of what we would like to be able to do, but life isn't perfect on any front-and doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves or anyone else.”

“Maybe it would be better if we didn't love. If we didn't lose, either. If we didn't get out hearts stomped on, shattered; if we didn't have to patch and repatch it until we're like Frankenstein monsters, all sewn together by who knows what”

“While Motherhood is not perfect, we have the opportunity to share many beautiful and perfect moments with our children everyday. We just need to be awake to those moments and attuned to them so we can more fully enjoy them. ~ Mothering with Spiritual Power by Debra Sansing Woods”