“I’m stronger than I thought I was!”

This Fall my 11-year-old son was helping me in a store to load a large packet of gardening soil into a shopping cart. He thought the bag was heavier than it was, so when he hoisted it up, it bopped him in the face. He giggled.

While we were loading our purchases into the car, I noticed he had soil from the dirty bag on his face. I said, “Jacob, thank you so much for working so hard to help me. You have some dirt on your nose from when the bag bopped you.” His happy response was, “Oh, I guess I’m stronger than I thought I was!” I took a moment to deeply appreciate his positive energy, his self-reflection and insight — I will remind myself when things feel hard, that maybe I’m stronger than I think I am. So grateful to be his Mom!