Father's Day 2012

We had a great day celebrating daddy!  Last year Brad was in the "sandbox" so it was a bittersweet day as we didn't get to enjoy his company. As I took pictures of the girls with Brad today I recalled our photo from two years prior and thought I would compare.

2010...my girls were only 8, 6, 4 and 15 months.

2012...now they are 10, 8, 6 and 3. It's going WAY too fast!

The Olympics...2020?

I think often about the parents of Olympic athletes. That may sound funny...but I wonder if I have what it takes to be the parent of an Olympian.

Usually when we think of the Olympics, we just think of the athletes themselves. But behind every one of those athletes was a person that loved them enough to sacrifice a lot of their own life to sit on bleachers and endure hours of practices each day so that a future Olympian could emerge.

My eight year old is a natural athlete and a gifted gymnast. She has been on a hiatus now for almost a year from competing that stems from our move to Texas in the fall and our mid year move to Mississippi. Unfortunately the closest gym to our current house is 45 minutes away. And practice at her level is already close to 12 hours a week! It seems like a nice gym and a pretty good program. My biggest hesitation now is figuring out how I make it fair to my other 3 children who also have their own interests that I want to consider and support. If I was just sacrificing my own schedule it would be another situation...but we're a large family and all my kids have a lot of potential that I want to be able to help cultivate.

This commercial brings me to tears every time. It's the blond haired blue eyed gymnast...I just see my 8 year old when they show her little face.  I just wish I knew...what is her future as far as gymnastics?  Should we make the drive and sacrifice time so this could be her future. I realize the odds are like winning the lottery, but you don't have a chance of winning the lotto if you don't buy a ticket...she'll never have a shot at any future in gymnastics, even a college scholarship, if she doesn't start training.

So I pray.  And I look at my calendar.  And I look into other activities for my other kids.  And I stress.  And I wonder.  And I pray. And I ask my daughter, "are you SURE you're wanting to do this"...and I watch commercials like this and I wonder if I have what it takes!

 

"Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable"

In March I accompanied Brad to a week long course designed to prepare commanders and their spouse for their new leadership role.  We had the privilege of spending the week with several Generals and their spouses.       Of all the things I took away with me from the week, it was a comment made by the spouse of one of the few 4 Star Generals in the Air Force.   As this seasoned military wife shared stories of her experiences she said that one of the biggest things she has had to learn was to "get comfortable being uncomfortable!"   Now her stories of being uncomfortable included state dinners, meeting the President, speaking in front of thousands, etc.  My uncomfortable world is smaller...and this fact gave me the perspective that there is always someone out there who is probably just as uncomfortable as me if not more.

This entire post may surprise some who assume I'm rarely uncomfortable.  That was my exact thought about Mrs. Rice, the wife of the 4 Star...she seemed very confident and secure.  I admit that I try hard to give that same persona...and often it isn't a huge stretch in the sense that I don't mind groups or public speaking...but I confess that I have had to smile and walk into a room of strangers that seem to know what is going on several times this past month and pretend that it doesn't phase me one bit. I have seriously whispered to myself "get comfortable being uncomfortable" as I opened the door and stepped through into a room where I was truly not comfortable.

Just yesterday one of my girls was being shy and hesitant about socializing with some other kids in the neighborhood.  We were sitting on the curb talking about the situation when I found myself saying to her, "you need to get comfortable being uncomfortable".  After elaborating about that saying she thought about it and said, "ok"...then she got up and went off to play with the kids she didn't know that well.  It made me ponder that perhaps if I had learned to be comfortable being uncomfortable as a kid then I wouldn't truly ever be uncomfortable as an adult.