I got home from a week-long trip to San Francisco tonight. The weather in California was absolutely beautiful, but a Sunday to Thursday trip was outside my standard two night travel maximum, and by the end of the trip I was really ready to get home. (But check out this VIEW!)

When my car pulled into the driveway, my husband sent me a text that the kids had planned a welcome home scavenger hunt. I know my children well enough to understand that when he says the “kids” planned it, Lydia orchestrated and Trey just did what he was told. Sweet boy.

When I walked through the door, I found a paper with handwritten hunt instructions, which included that I was to find the clues around the house if I wanted to find my kiddos. Picture the movie Taken, but less violent or exciting, and with an Easter cookie for munching while looking for my kids.

I followed the makeshift arrows and clue papers around the house while eating my cookie. The kids were surprisingly quiet, and I kept wondering what we’d do if they fell asleep in their hiding spot due to the time of day.

I came to the final clue, resting on the handles of our coat closet in the foyer and opened the doors. My kiddos burst out like clowns out of a clown car. How cute are they????

This will go down in history as one of my favorite working mom moments. I spent a lot of time the previous five days feeling guilty about how long I was gone. Even though I spoke to my kiddos throughout my trip, I still worried about what I’d find when I got home. Come on ladies, you know what I mean. Walking through the doors after any kind of time away always yields surprises, some good, some bad, some hard to fix, some ridiculously messy. But do you know what was waiting for me? Two happy, healthy kiddos who were thrilled to see me and surprise me and snuggle with me (also waiting for me was more crumbs on the kitchen floor than I will ever understand).

Moral of the story? If you’re a working mom, and you find yourself spending time worrying if you’re doing the right thing or doing a good job, take a minute to figure out what “doing a good job” looks like to you. For me, I’ve boiled it down to children who are healthy and mostly happy at the end of the day. And thanks to that criteria, it’s real clear on the days that I’m doing well and the days that I’m not doing so well.

And today, I came home from a five day business trip to find that I’ve been doing real well. And I’m putting that in the win column.

Cheers!

-Lauren