My Favorite Moms Have Faults

I know, moms are supposed to have perfect hair, cook in four-inch heels and wear a sparkly cape. I read that 50's manual explaining feminine domestic perfection. Okay, I read the first few paragraphs, spewed milk out my nose and moved on before I keeled over from laughter.
     Thanks to the pioneering efforts of our parents' sitcoms, we moms do feel a lot of pressure to live mistake-free, perfect parent lives. Since I get to carry 100% of the financial burden and 90%+ of the time raising my child, I, like most single moms, feel this pressure even more acutely.
     Or, at least I did, until I realized the women I look up to as great moms suffer from moments of imperfection, too. Here are some of my favorite foible-friendly moms:

• Late for her own funeral mom. One of my favorite people in the whole world, this mom would give you the shirt off her own back if you needed it. You may have frozen to death by the time she arrives with it, but still, she'd do her best. Of course, the reason she's late is probably because she's still trying to finish helping someone else out again.
• Gossip mom. Gotta love her! She knows EVERYTHING that's going on with EVERYONE. At least once a week she swears off Facebook forever because of all the TMI. Oh, wait. Didn't she start that thread in the first place?
• Take-over mom. Regardless of what's going on or whose kid it involves, this mom is certainly going to be in charge in short order. Sometimes that's an awesome thing. Except when it involves cleaning the family's undies.
• The terrible chef. Her kids' hair is always perfect, their grades are perfect, their clothes are sparkling clean...and they're all under 50th percentile in weight. You thought it was her amazing child-rearing skills, until you tried her casserole. (That WAS a casserole, right?)
• Discombobulated mom. She's the life of every party and her kids are a joy to be around. She is a shining example of positivity and clearly raising the most emotionally well-adjusted children on the planet. BUT, when you're cell rings and her name pops up, you can bet she's stuck on the side of the road because she forgot to put the gas in the car or needs you to watch her kids while she retraces the day's steps to locate her misplaced wallet.
• Messy mom. To the outside world, she is the picture of perfection and so are her kids. Until they've spent 10 minutes at your house and leave a trail of destruction behind them. Having given up the fight long ago, she shrugs her shoulders and offers you cash to pay a cleaning crew. And now we know why no one has been in her house in three years - which was about the time her youngest discovered the joy of confetti eggs.
• Carousel mom. She's an awesome person, dedicated to her kids, husband and church. She helps others often, keeps a perfect house and somehow always manages to know what's going on and does it while dressed just right. Unfortunately, friendship is a fleeting thing. One moment you're on the carousel, the next it's moved on. Oh wait, it's back around again. Love this mom...now if I can just catch the pony with the pink saddle, I'll get to see her more.

     Despite what Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook try to tell us, there's no such thing as the perfect mom. The greatest people in the world are flawed in some form or fashion. Maybe they know it, maybe they don't. The best ones revel in their flaws and appreciate yours.
     Remember this the next time you consider berating some poor mom and her latest mishap as a parent: if her kids survived and no one landed in jail, it's probably not worth your derision. Appreciate moms for the fact that they are just mere humans with extraordinary responsibilities and the wherewithal to tackle them without complaining (much).