Six Things I Am Proud Of

I copied this from my friend Dianne's blog and enjoyed reading her post, as well as her friend 'Tis Herself.

For me, this turned into six people I am proud of.

1. I am proud of my sister-in-law, Suzanne. She faced great adversity with grace and honesty as a breast cancer survivor. Every time I talk to her, I treasure all of her kindness, feistiness (is this a word? It is now!) and her good humor, even about difficult situations. She has gone on to comfort and support other women with cancer and has had to say goodbyes -which must have so much emotional impact, more than I could imagine-to some of these friends. I am proud for her courage and loveliness. (You frickin' rock, Aunt Soooz!)

2. I am proud of my mother. She is one of a kind, that's for sure! A single mom for much of her life, working two jobs while I was in college-which now I realize that you just do what you have to when it comes to your children. Now I know. She still chuckles when I call her and say , "Hey, Mom, it's me." And she answers, "Hi, me!" or "Who else calls me Mom?!" I love my mom and appreciate her so much more now that I am a mother too.

3. I am proud of my husband. He is a good man, who has made sacrifices of his own talent and passion to put his family first. (see #2-sometimes it's what you have to do) We have our moments-but he is willing to find solutions. And he loves me a lot! I look forward to seeing his goals come to fruition as he works to find new and better paths for himself.


4. I am proud of Connor. He is a little gem who needed some polishing. To have someone say to me, "This kid has autism??" makes me proud of all of the efforts HE has put in to build his communication. He is talking and looking at us like your average little two-year-old. Life is good for this little one and for that, I am incredibly happy and proud.

5. I am proud of our parenting. I don't toot my horn about parenting a lot-or maybe I do, considering most of my blog is about my kids. I don't know-but at the risk of sounding like my head is inflated, I'll continue. Aside from those inevitable toddler moments, I think that Tom and I do a really good job of communicating with our boys. We rarely yell, we are mostly consistent and we try to raise well-mannered children. And most of our parenting comes from watching so many students over the years-an advantage in the parenting arena-and having good sounding boards when we need advice. We are usually on the same page with handling crisis moments and we balance each other when frustration sets in. And we consciously hope that our children will have life better than we could have imagined for ourselves.


6. I am proud of myself. Yes. I get to toot my OWN horn for once in my life. I suffer a great deal of social anxiety, which is interesting that I chose teaching.....anyway, I struggled for years with perfection, self-esteem and shyness that choked my soul, and overcame serious depression several times in my life. I have learned to move forward-while I acknowledge the past carefully-I have made a great deal of peace about myself and who I am. For all of my many faults, some I recognize and have come to enjoy with great humor. But to see that I have made it to teacher, wife, friend, sister, daughter and mother in my short 3* years, I'll give myself a nod for all of these wonderful roles that helped me grow and become the better person I hope to be.