Grateful Sunday – February 24, 2019

I’m grateful for the counseling my daughter and family is receiving. My older daughter’s not too excited about going through family therapy, individual therapy, and group therapy. I understand that. I’m hopeful that this can help her see that she’s not alone, that there are people she can turn to that want to help, and also give her the tools at an early age that I didn’t receive until I was in my forties. Planting seeds that I hope will grow inside and help her find a more joyful life than I have had these past few years.

I’m grateful that I had the days off to watch my older daughter’s dance recital. I enjoy seeing her on stage. She can go from being frustrated just before an event, mad at Dad, and then, afterword, she’s so excited and on cloud nine because dance has taken her away to her comfort zone. I love to see her hard work come to fruition and her confidence and the gratitude she has when she is successful. Her eyes light up and her aura glows brightly.

I’m grateful for my first trip off of training. We’ve had multiple plane swaps and changes to the schedule, and yet, everyone is so laid back to accepting these reroutes. I haven’t ended the day with the same crew, and even though, to some, that may seem frustrating, for the employees, it’s whatever we can do to make the airline run smoothly and as on time as possible.

I’m grateful that my younger daughter and I finished the Haunting of Hill House. I loved that there was one scene that startled us so badly, we both jumped and screamed at the same time. Totally caught us off guard! I’m also grateful for (heads up, spoiler alert – do NOT read if you don’t want to know what happened) Dad’s Life Learning Lesson in those episodes; are what the characters saw ghosts or are the ghosts how the mind deals with childhood trauma? My daughter may not have been very happy that the storyline was geared toward mental health, however, I’m grateful that this was yet another medium to continue to plant seeds and validate everything I’m trying to teach them.

Grateful Childhood

I’m grateful that my parents sometimes made tough love decisions when I grew up. One of the biggest was grounding me from seeing my girlfriend until I did some work on my Eagle Scout Project. Most scouts get as far as Star or Life ranks and then girls come into the picture. Priorities change and scouting takes a back seat. They never complete the tasks to make Eagle Scout.

I was headed down that road. My girlfriend became my life. I had no motivation to do the work I needed to do. My parents intervened. I was told that I could not see or talk to my girlfriend until they saw some work on my final project. I had no idea what I was going to do but then I had to quickly figure it out. It took me two weeks before I had an outline of my project.

Since I was running at the time, I planned and organized a Fun Run. The race was to raise money for Pros for Kids, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. At the time, this organization used famous athletes to enlighten the youth on drug and alcohol addiction. So ironic, that thirty years later, Together We Can Heal, in many respects, following my path of recovery from sex addiction, is doing the same thing. Had my parents not forced my hand and had they not believed I could do it, I would have given up on my Eagle Scout project and I wouldn’t be an Eagle Scout to this day.

Thanks Mom and Pop for believing in me and my abilities.