In that moment, I would have thrown in the towel, but I couldn’t find one. I had a choice to make… we all do.

I could have given her a fluffy answer, but I decided to tell her the truth. “Mommy spent a lot of time believing lies about herself, too.”

I stepped forward to intervene, but then I saw him lean in close to his crying sister, and I stopped.

That feeling crept over me, the awkward notion that I had caught the attention of a stranger. A feeling of watchful eyes.

Motherhood’s supreme purpose looks past brief moments and long days. It gains perspective beyond what’s visible and reaches for something invisible.

It’s a question that took me over two decades to answer, “Is it worth it to take young kids on trips they won’t remember?”