Here's to Persevering

I have long believed, that the reason children have parents is because they are not able to raise themselves. There have been times when I did what I thought was right and had to stand my ground despite the opinion of my children...and sometimes well meaning on-lookers.  I haven't given my kids carte-blanche.  I haven't bent to all their whims.

Perhaps another mom, would not have been so insistent at her child giving marching band a try....full well knowing that the child would much prefer to sit home in front of the computer.  Maybe another mom would have folded under the constant litany of  "1000 reasons why I hate Marching Band".  But I know my kid.  I have known him since he was an infant and before.  I have seen the things that excite him and the things that he can not bear.  I know the lessons he needs to learn to be a happy and successful human being.  In my  heart, I knew....I absolutely knew that if he gave it a chance....a real chance....he would love it.

So on that September night as we were driving home from one of his first competitions.....when he told me he had decided to stick with marching band throughout his high school career.....I felt somehow vindicated.  I was glad that I had trusted my instincts and put up with some of the unpleasant consequences....to get to that moment in time.  I wasn't sure any moment would feel sweeter to me than that one.  But I was wrong.  Every time I have seen him on the field, every time he comes home and talks my ear off about the drill....or walks around the house singing his trombone part is a source of joy.  I have seen him feeling discouraged, and getting up and going to the next practice and trying even harder.  It's thrilling to me to see that he's not just going through the motions.....but that he is invested...that he is trying to do his best.  It's thrilling to me to have conversations with him about the lessons that the Marching Band experience has taught him.  But the sweetest moment yet...was to see him performing on the field at the Carrier Dome.....giving it his all and being proud of what he had accomplished this season.

I'm proud that I stuck to my guns......that I did not give up on what I knew......but persevered.  I'm proud that Alex did not resist and gave himself fully to the activity...and persevered.  The young man that continues to procrastinate doing his homework in the next room is a different person in many ways than that kid I dropped off at the first marching band practice back in June.  I look forward to seeing him grow and keep on going through whatever comes his way....to become the amazing person that I have always known he can be.

“Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.” 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson