I was tagged to participate in this 7 day challenge to bring positive energy to the platform by @mariannewest. This is my day 3 entry. I am going to break one of the rules however, so touching briefly on that then will get to the gratitude. Rather than going through my list that I follow and looking for 3 more only to find they are to busy, I instead invite any of you reading this to feel free to consider that your reading these words has now nominated you.
Yesterday I got a call from my son. He was on his way home from his annual trek to the Rock on the Range 3 day music festival. He does this every year, and meets up with several of his friends who live around the country. We talked while he drove (he has that bluetooth thing) for two hours on the last leg of his journey. We talk quite a bit on the phone, as he lives so far away. And it is always a blessing when he calls.
We were very close when he was growing up. Until he hit about 16 that is. It was a mutual fallout as my relationship with his mom had deteriorated (not that it had ever been stellar) and he thought (correctly) that I was too dominant in my choices for him. One example was I home schooled him, and he was ready for college right after turning 17. He wanted to go into writing, and I forbid it. I forced him into computers and told him once he was making a good living with an education that was in demand he could go take all the writing classes he wanted.
Sometime during this strained time between us, he had come up with this idea that he knew everything. Pffft, everyone knows that would have been me when I was his age. Take a backseat pal. So it really was a blow when shortly after he turned 18 and had his certification in computers from the local college, he moved halfway across the country from me. Over the next several years, our talks were minimal and even those I felt were done out of obligation on his part.
But maybe about 6 years ago, I had enough and stopped trying to force a relationship with him. And he noticed. He began commenting I never called him anymore. I put it back on him, saying he rarely answered and rarely returned my calls and he knew his schedule better than I. That if he had time I welcomed his calls.
And slowly at first, we began talking more as he called me. There were lots of deep discussions as he slowly opened up to me about what he perceived as my shortcomings. Not all of them I agreed with, but the ones I did I made my heartfelt apologies. And they were heartfelt. It is amazing sometimes the way we view our actions and then those who were affected by them share their views which are vastly different. I sometimes think one of the greatest gifts of being a parent is the amount of self examination it demands.
Over the last several years, my son calls me several times a week. Not the obligatory 10 minute call. These are the "can we talk for hours" calls. And I have to say, it is a blessing. Other than my dad and partner, no person has meant more to me than my son. While I miss the wonder of the child he used to be, I appreciate his love and his holding me in high regard enough to seek my counsel like when he was young. Appreciate that he wants to tell me about his life, both good and bad. He has been such a blessing in my life. He will be the focus of another post in this challenge, so will be stopping here for now.
If you wish to participate in this 7 day gratitude challenge, here are the rules:
Write a post about something you are grateful for - this could be anything from being thankful for your current situation, someone being nice to you, your being kind ot someone else, being thankful for your friends and family, etc.
Do this for 7 days in a row if you get nominated (which you were the moment your eyes came to rest upon this post)
Mention three people who should do this on each day.
Tag it with #7daypositivitychallenge and include these rules at the bottom of your post
Include a picture of something positive.
This beautiful challenge was initiated by @conradt. If you agree that this is an awesome idea, head over to his feed and give his posts some love.