That Beaner did the impossible and got herself out of a miserable required internship that had us all worried about her, and into a great one, close to home, that is very hard work but that she is really enjoying.
That Peachie, who has to do a clinical internship next semester, was offered one at Johns Hopkins. I don’t know if she will take it but to see this kid who had a speech impediment and a learning disability and struggled so much academically when she was young, challenge herself and succeed, in the sciences no less, is just amazing to me.
That Martha has been asked to coach our school’s girl’s JV basketball team. I am grateful because it means she will have to give up her role as director, coach, concession stand overseer, and everything else doer for the youth basketball program she currently runs. It’s a great program and she has made such a difference for a lot of girls who have very little positive in their lives. But she took on too much - mostly because no one helps anymore. I think this new job will be much less time and pressure. (I could be wrong.) And she is very happy about it.
So this week’s gratitude is centered around my family. Not so much just pride in them but in the knowing that they have the skills to find their way. I have to admit that knowing I have a high probability of cancer recurrence has given me a pointed sense of my own mortality. Not in a morbid way, but in the sense that one worries about the future well being of their loved ones. And I am extremely grateful to have lived long enough to see my daughters into adulthood and to know that they are capable of making their own opportunities and happiness.
Because of, or despite your caveat about mortality, this is such a positive post. It is a relief to see that one's children (and SO) can not just survive but actually take control of their lives and find satisfaction and happiness. What else could a parent hope for?
ReplyDeleteI don't have a cancer diagnosis, but looking at my family history and doing the math leads me to conclude that the next 20 years had better be good. Or, rather, that I'd better make the most of them.
Gratitude and reassurance. Very good things.
xoxoxoxo
All great things to be thankful for! I had to go to the basement the other day for something and for some reason I took a long look at my coaching books from when I had started coaching so many years ago and I realized how much I miss it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like everyone will be busy - tucked into the new day to day...
Those are indeed things to be grateful for. There is something very reassuring about knowing your kids will be okay.
ReplyDeletecongratulations to your daughters and martha. the view toward the end of the tunnel--however off in the distance (future) that is--is (somewhat) easier when you see your children accomplishing, thriving, coming into their own.
ReplyDeleteWe are family.
So Martha and the girls are doing great and glorious things. What you you doing : )
ReplyDeleteI understand about having an overachieving partner. I often tell my wife that she has no concept of the word "no." She and one of her classes film stream every football game at her high school. So, every Friday night, there I am, watching a high school game just to have a dog with her at halftime. She drives one of her students to his job as an intern at Gallup every Saturday morning at 8. He lives about a half hour away from us and his job is another half hour away. She and I go coat shopping every weekend at Goodwill because half of her students don't have Winter coats. It has caused us many arguments, this giving tree personality of hers. But...you know, secretly, it is one of the things that I love most about her and I suspect it might be the same for you.
ReplyDelete