Dear Me,

If I had to write my 2010-self a letter today, it would mostly just say

Dear Me,

CHILL OUT.

Love,
Me

The other night, I picked Edie up from daycare and on the way home, had the thought that we literally had nothing to eat for dinner. Not even my usual back-up of breakfast for dinner ingredients were at home. So instead of dwelling on my failure to keep a well stocked kitchen, I decided to be Fun Mom and take Edie to Red Robin at Northgate Mall. Because, guys. I'm not proud, but sometimes Edie and I like to go there. It's like a quarter mile from my house, it's on the route home from daycare, there's lots of parking, never a line, I secretly like their garden burger and bottomless steak fries and also? The other children dining there make my kid look super awesome and well behaved, which obviously makes me feel really good about my parenting after having just felt bad about my ability to grocery shop on a weekly basis.

But I digress.

So I take her to Red Robin and she thoughtfully considers her kid's menu with pictures. When the waitress comes to our table and asks us if we know what we want, Edie answers first. She makes eye contact and says loudly and clearly, "I would like to order the macaroni and cheese please." The waitress looks sort of bemused by a 3 year old ordering for herself but follows up with, "And for your side dish?" and Edie says, "I'll have mandarin oranges AND broccoli." And you guys, I DIE.

Suddenly, all I could think of was myself 3 years ago, trying desperately to get Edie to eat anything. Like, ANYTHING. And she hated all food and I really felt so, so stressed about it. Like she would never learn to eat and why was my kid so difficult?!

Edie's refusal to eat food at 6 months was such a big deal to me at the time. And now I look back and wonder what I was really worried about. And then I had an Oprah-style light bulb moment - perhaps this translates to the things I'm currently worried about!! Maybe when I fret for hours on end about whether Edie should go to kindergarten in 2014 or 2015 ... wait for it... it actually doesn't really matter! Regardless of how much I stress out - it will all work itself out in the end. Right?

In summation:

Dear Me,

Chill out.

Love,

Me