Polyglots, routines and tsunamis

My little family of four went to dinner at a friends house on New Year's Eve. These friends have two kids who go to a local charter school, the other family has three kids going to a different local charter school. As the evening unfolded, my husband and I heard about the endeavors and accomplishments of the other two family's children. Three of them are polyglots learning Spanish, one speaks fluently, two are excelling in Mandarin. One plays violin, another plays cello and has a great talent for it. Two are amazing artists - their work covers the walls of their home. There are self portraits in the styles of influential artists whose names I don't even know.
A growing sense of anxiety builds in my chest. My mind takes me on an involuntary trip to the "you suck's," "just give up's," "you'll never be good enough's," and  "I told you so's."
I think about how my kids hate to write and how our fragile routine has been washed away by the tsunami called "The Holidays." This leaves me building our homeschooling back up through the spoils and ruins of Christmas that have no place yet in our home - while dragging the kids along. No mention yet of groceries, meal planning (ha!), actually making meals, laundry, dishes, laundry, cleaning and family "togetherness" time.
Really? Mandarin?
Our friends were clearly proud of their children and excited to share what was going on in their lives. No one was trying to drag anyone else down, that was my own doing. In the end it was a good push in the pants, a wake up call. I had a renewed vision of what was possible and I followed that vision.
Our routine is back and I'm even more committed to homeschooling than I was before. Not to unschooling, and not to the meeting of arbitrary milestones, but to our little family, our routine, our kids, their growth, and to our daily grind of small, seemingly inconsequential things that build themselves around us to create what turns into our life. Even laundry.