Patience with my Mom.

My mom was kind enough to sit for us on Saturday night. When I came home I was totally exhausted. I had played with the kids all day and conversed with buddies for the previous 3 hours. I was ready to hit the sack hard. My mom and I chit chatted a bit and she headed out the door. As she left she inquired: "Now where did I put my keys?"
The classic question of aging mom's. I shrugged and helped her look under the couch cushions. Then it was out into the driveway with a flashlight while my mom emptied her purse. I was tired and my patience is easily challenged when I am weary. Fortunately tonight I recognized this fact and collected myself as I searched the driveway.
I reminded myself that I lose my keys all the time. I also reminded myself that the worst case scenario was that I would drive my mom home to get her spare key and back. That would take a half an hour at the most. I would certainly survive that. My mom had also done me a huge favor tonight and deserves lots of key losing latitude.
I took a final deep breath and entered the house. "Where are those darn things?" My mom was starting to get a bit agitated, but was pretty calm for 11:30. I liked to think she was feeding off of my calmness.
In my calm state I picked up my moms coat. I had already checked the pockets, but thought I would check a final time. I patted the coat down and felt the lump of the keys in the middle of the left side. There was a hidden pocket there and mom must have slipped them in.
I produced the keys with a magicians slight of hand and a smile. "Where did you find those?" My mom asked, amazed.
"Right where you left them, mom." I replied.
"Thank you so much." She said. Good night.

I can think of many times when similar situations have gone poorly between myself and my mom. We used to get more agitated with each other when things did not go as planned. I hope my appreciation of my mother and all that she does for me has helped during these encounters.
I also believe these calm encounters will be witnessed by my kids and serve as examples. The kids are sharp. They will pick it up.