Let it go

So I tend to be a perfectionist (or OCD) sometimes, or else I just really like things done my way. You know...the right way. It can be so difficult to let my son learn his own way of doing things and even more difficult to accept them as "ok". I'm really not selfish and bossy, but somehow it got into my mind that certain things are to be done certain ways and it is very hard to let that go.

For example, the other day he replaced the toilet paper in the bathroom. I should have been completely ecstatic that he did this all on his own without being asked! And I was....except that the toilet paper wasn't coming over the top of the roll. It took ALL of my willpower not to "fix" it. I didn't want to squash his excitement that he did it all by himself by telling him he did it "wrong". Who knows, he may not have noticed if I changed it, but I didn't want to take that risk so I handled it until the next roll change. Phew!

Last night he asked if we could eat outside, the weather was beautiful and it was a perfect evening to spend together on the deck. He was so excited I said "yes" that he immediately started setting up. We recently moved and the deck chairs were still in the garage, so he used the one dirty outside chair that I had been using for gardening and then he went in and grabbed a bar stool for himself. Then he set up the TV trays and got dishes and coffee cups to drink out of. He was so excited. I bit my tongue and we had the best outside meal ever! We laughed and joked and had a great time just being together. Turns out, it doesn't matter if things are just right or not.

Sometimes, as hard as it is, the best thing to do is just take a deep breath and let it go. :)