"What I like most about me is that I love you."

As I was out with Skye earlier today, I was telling her that I couldn't pick only one thing that I liked best about her because she has so many great qualities I couldn't chose just one. So, after telling her how smart, funny and gorgeous she was, I asked her what she liked most about herself.

She answered, "What I like most about me is that I love you." When I tell you that I nearly drove off the road, I'm not exaggerating. It's moments like this, when the sweet honesty and genuine feelings are expressed that take my breath away. Some cynics, myself among them, would also point to that moment as anecdotal evidence that the human race will never end.

I have discovered that parenting is tremendously challenging. So, the currency of patience and adoration that those memories deposit in our hearts and minds is priceless. All too often I'll find myself at the end of my rope, feeling so fragmented that I only have enough focus to get from task to task and question why I ever chose to be a parent. During those moments I wonder if I have enough patience, acceptance and unconditional love to get them to adulthood with student loans instead of therapy bills. And then, Skye will make a remark like that or Hunter will come over and give a seemingly random hug at the moment I need it most.

Those moments snap me out of auto-pilot mode and back into a conscious, purposeful approach in my parenting and in all relationships for that matter. Like I've heard many brave parents share, I know that I can get buried in work and lose my focus on the priorities. Finding time to have those precious moments is tough, and as they grow older, Skye's and Hunter's calendars are getting full too, which adds to the complexity.

I think making sure we have regular checkpoints with members of our family becomes critical. Times where we can spend time collectively as a family and time when it's one on one time with one of the children. Sometimes it's as simple as grabbing one of them to go run some errands together. That kind of moment was exactly when Skye told me that the thing she loved most about herself was that she loved me. Who knew that grabbing bread, milk, and eggs could be such a powerful recipe for connectedness? I'm sure a lot of seasoned parents did, and I'm glad I now know that secret, too.