So I just came from my stepdaughter's birthday party - she is 18 yesterday. I remember the day I met her. My ex brought her to my apartment. It was Halloween 1997 - she was 6. She was dressed in a pink mermaid outfit her mom had made her. She came in and I think we were both a bit shocked to meet each other as neither she or myself knew the other existed before 6 hours earlier that same day.
She came in and I told her I wanted to help her with her costume and she told me it would be okay. I got her ready and just before we left that night, she told me that she had thought about it and she liked me and that she was okay with me being around. That moment, along with many, remind me of why she was brought into my life.
After my relationship was over, we stayed in each other's life and she always inspires me with her resiliency, her intelligence, she understated beauty, and her just overall great attitude about her life. Her mother, like myself, had to raise our little ones alone from a young age and despite the nonsense life dealt them, Mia, Kendall, and Brendan are the most terrific human beings I have ever met - alive or dead.
I believe the phrase "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" is cliche, but truer words were never spoken. Tempered in what should have been a tragic situation, each of them failed to be a statistic and I have yet to meet a person that has not told me how wonderful and kind they are. There's the blessing. The turbulence in their early lives made them stronger - like a diamond - the pressure formed them into something amazing and priceless.
Makes me understand the idea behind unfailing grace. My girlfriend Mel (my stepdaughter's mom) told me that she hadn't had a chance to call me about this crazy voicemail I left her a couple of weeks back to razz me about it. I laughed because in the voicemail, I was in my car after dropping my kids off and I became overwhelmed with this unexplainable joy.
My daughter Kendall has just spent the day shopping with her big sis and she was floating on cloud nine and she reminded me that it was her 18th b-day in a month. I thought about how far she and Mia had come and all the challenges, struggles, and troubles (some at my hands) they had faced, and I got crazy emotional and on a weird whim, I called Mel and rambled for about 3 minutes about how proud I was of them, how awesome she and Mia were, and how I wanted to support Mia's in reaching her dreams through college. I know I must have sounded crazy and or drunk. Not drunk - just filled to the top with happy thankfulness. I hung up before I had a chance to delete and re-record a less fanatical message and Mel got a great laugh out of it, but I meant every word because our kids deserve that and so much more. So does she.
I hope that I can remember my new mantra when hard times come. When things get ridiculously hard and friggin' out of control, I will try and remember the blessing on the other side because there is a blessing. Sit Tight! There is always a diamond.
She came in and I told her I wanted to help her with her costume and she told me it would be okay. I got her ready and just before we left that night, she told me that she had thought about it and she liked me and that she was okay with me being around. That moment, along with many, remind me of why she was brought into my life.
After my relationship was over, we stayed in each other's life and she always inspires me with her resiliency, her intelligence, she understated beauty, and her just overall great attitude about her life. Her mother, like myself, had to raise our little ones alone from a young age and despite the nonsense life dealt them, Mia, Kendall, and Brendan are the most terrific human beings I have ever met - alive or dead.
I believe the phrase "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" is cliche, but truer words were never spoken. Tempered in what should have been a tragic situation, each of them failed to be a statistic and I have yet to meet a person that has not told me how wonderful and kind they are. There's the blessing. The turbulence in their early lives made them stronger - like a diamond - the pressure formed them into something amazing and priceless.
Makes me understand the idea behind unfailing grace. My girlfriend Mel (my stepdaughter's mom) told me that she hadn't had a chance to call me about this crazy voicemail I left her a couple of weeks back to razz me about it. I laughed because in the voicemail, I was in my car after dropping my kids off and I became overwhelmed with this unexplainable joy.
My daughter Kendall has just spent the day shopping with her big sis and she was floating on cloud nine and she reminded me that it was her 18th b-day in a month. I thought about how far she and Mia had come and all the challenges, struggles, and troubles (some at my hands) they had faced, and I got crazy emotional and on a weird whim, I called Mel and rambled for about 3 minutes about how proud I was of them, how awesome she and Mia were, and how I wanted to support Mia's in reaching her dreams through college. I know I must have sounded crazy and or drunk. Not drunk - just filled to the top with happy thankfulness. I hung up before I had a chance to delete and re-record a less fanatical message and Mel got a great laugh out of it, but I meant every word because our kids deserve that and so much more. So does she.
I hope that I can remember my new mantra when hard times come. When things get ridiculously hard and friggin' out of control, I will try and remember the blessing on the other side because there is a blessing. Sit Tight! There is always a diamond.
Wow that was amasing I never feelt so so happy in my life
ReplyDeleteIt made me cry for joy inside because that is so sweet my mum wrote
My mum is so sweet
what see wrote make me happy so thats why im saying this to her:
Dear Mum,
Your the best Mum i could have
with out u i could never have a girl to talk to u make me have a smile when i come home
i love u mum and your the best