A Crack in the Bucket

My youngest daughter takes really long baths.  If I let her, she will stay in the tub until her skin wrinkles up or the water turns cold.  Do you remember when you actually had time to sit in a tub every day?  I admit it, I absolutely love it because I use that time to sit in her room and have some mommy time. Yep, it is the one time of the day (at least when I am awake) that I don’t hear the constant sound of “mommy” (or “Belinda” at work) and it lasts about 45 minutes!

Last year, she received a large pink bucket with her name on it for Easter.  At the time it held candy and toys but now that bucket serves as a source of her play time during her baths.  She uses it to “cook soup” or turns it upside down to “play drums” in her imaginary band.  So naturally, when I noticed it was leaking one day she was very upset.  The source of the leak appeared to be a large crack on the bottom side of the bucket.  For the next few days at bath time, she really didn’t play much with the bucket. She spent much less time at bath.  Well, that didn’t work for me!  Listen, the crack in that bucket was interfering with my mommy time! What used to be my 45 minute break time, turned into 15 minutes or less!  It was time to do something!

I started talking to her about the bucket.  I gave her 3 options:  we could replace the bucket, repair the bucket or keep the bucket (and the crack) and figure out a new way to use it.  Of course that triggered something for me. (You knew that was coming right?) I am a lot like that cracked bucket.  For real, I’m messed up!  I have issues.  I am easily distracted and sometimes disorganized.  I don’t always make the best decisions.  I am so corny that I laugh at my own jokes, even when others don’t.   Seriously, I’m messed up!  I have a big ‘ole crack in my bucket.  Over my lifetime, I have tried to replace it by becoming something I wasn’t.  I tried to act like others said I should act and do what others said I should do.  But it didn’t work!  I have even tried to repair it.  I had a phase in my life when I would read a ton of “self-help” and “design your life” books (even attending conferences).  Although I was able to repair some of the crack, it really didn’t work either.  What has worked for me? (So glad you asked!)  I accepted the crack in my bucket!  It is those imperfections and issues that I have in my life that makes me…Me.  For example, I am a better communicator because I know what it is like to not be understood.  I am a better manager because I know what it is like to mess up on a project.  I am a better mother because I know what it is like have self-doubt.  I use the cracks in my bucket every day in my life.

What about you?  Have any cracks in your bucket?  Are you working to replace it, repair it, accept it, or a combination of the 3?  I just want you to be encouraged that your imperfections are part of why you are so special.  Embrace them!  Somebody in this world will be encouraged by you and your cracked bucket!

Oh, and my daughter decided to keep the bucket.  She said the crack made her drum sound better :-).