We went fishing in the ocean today, and my three boys had their first experience with the concept of “catch and release.” Only they were so insistent on keeping Freddy the fish as a pet, they wailed with disappointment and protest when I tossed his tiny body back into the water.

We are on vacation and my husband is at work 7 hours away (I know. Stupid planning), and two out of three kids have ear infections and my two year old just doesn’t listen anyway and … Well, it’s been a day filled with stupid, useless time-outs and stupid, useless explaining myself and stupid, useless directives. In the last 24 hours , I failed to get even a hand washed or a shoe on or a meal ingested without either intentionally using some form of bribery or nearly threatening to burn all their possessions in a bonfire.

…Although, I’m glad I never actually did lose my shit, because I’d feel awfully guilty right about now (my two year old is sleeping peacefully beside me and he just gave me a tiny hug in his sleep. Aren’t they angels when they sleep?)…

So after telling husband about day filled with stupid frustration, he told me a little bit of rambunctiousness is good for the boys, so I told HIM that was a stupid response.

But here is my promise to my three little stinker boys who play off of each other’s ignoring and running around and other shenanigans, who whine and redistribute center if gravity when asked to hold mom’s hand in the parking lot, who grab toys from each other just because the other has it„ and who require 100 requests to go to sleep….

Today was a catch and release kind of day. Yah, even though we ‘re on vacation, I’d still throw it back if I could. We will have many catch and release days in the many upcoming adventures and journeys of our family. Days with too much annoyance and frustration and not enough perspective.

Tomorrow will be a new day, and I will face it willingly. Willing to try again, willing to try to be a little more patient, a little more thoughtful and deliberate instead of reactive, a little bit better. That is my promise.

And the cool thing is, if I put in the effort to put some better bate on the line, we might just catch a better day.