Thursday, July 3, 2008

"Finally"...I heard him sigh






Well...I finally kept my word. That is something I really do struggle with--for example, let's play Sequence...get busy, never do; we'll get that later...later never comes. It is something I am really conscientiously trying to work on and today I did it! Well, actually started on Monday. Harrison has been asking for...years...to paint his room. I am a neurotic control freak about some (ok...lots of things) and my answer always went something like this...NO! or If I approve of the colors, or That will look ridiculous, then back to "maybe later" to which...see above--later never comes. Notice nothing nice, encouraging, etc. Several months ago I saw an interview with Randy Pausch. He is the professor that is dying of pancreatic cancer and has written a book called "The Last Lecture." In that interview and in his book he talks about his parents letting him paint his room...anyway he wanted it. He said it was such a big deal to him and he went on the tell parents, "let your kids paint their room, don't worry about resale value...it is a REALLY BIG deal to them!" Well that struck quite a note with me--I watched that interview on Spring Break this year and it has stuck with me. The next time he asked if he could paint his room my answer was a YES and that we would tackle it in the summer on a week when my step-daughter Mindy was at her mom's. This has been the 1st real week Mindy has been away...it is Thursday and the room was cleaned Monday (on a side note...GROSS!); Home Depot trip, primer, and a few coats on Tuesday; and Wednesday at 3:40 the project was complete! He loves it! and I think it REALLY was a BIG deal! (and I learned that keeping my word is a big deal too!)

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