So Proud

There are times when you feel so proud of a child's accomplishments. It may be getting good grades or doing well at a sport. I feel very lucky to have two wonderful smart and accomplished daughters who are really just starting to realize their potential. They're ahead of me because I was sort of a late bloomer but eventually life began to make sense and developing a sense of purpose. I think when we discover motherhood it alters the way we view life.It can be very rewarding and at the same time humbling. You don't know how it's all going to turn out. There are many challenges to raising children especially daughters. I never realized how my mother may have felt during some of my more "difficult" years.Now I think I have better insight and I wish I knew then what I know now. I definitely think I would have been nicer to her but I thank her belatedly for her patience. You can't really predict sometimes how they are going to turn out. I think my mother was very proud of me, and I have grown very proud of my own daughters for different reasons. One daughter seemed a bit more easy to raise and reason with where the other one was very assertive about her own individuality and everything was a "test". Now that they are both young adult women I can step back into the role of advisor and only try to give my opinion when asked. I'm still working on that one so they tell me.
What influenced me to write this present commentary has to do with my youngest daughter and two recent experiences she had. She had a few rough weeks trying to reset her path after a bad work experience. When she was able to be placed in a temp job she did not know how it would turn out. On her first day of work she was called upon to render emergency medical assistance to a man suddenly stricken with cardiac arrest. She remained calm and confident of her EMT training and helped save this man's life. She said she did not feel she needed anyone's praise because to her it just seemed like the natural thing to do. Well, it was a very emotional experience for her and we were so very proud of her. Then this other thing happened. Her boss was also stricken by a heart attack at work this week and again she was placed in the role of assisting a victim to help save his life.This shook her up a bit because this time she actually knew the person she was doing CPR on and shocking him with the paddles.She does not see herself as a hero but co-workers have said she is. She started this temp job and who knew that her presence would be important at saving two people's lives. I'm not sure she realizes yet that she is not only a hero to those two people who needed her assistance but also a hero to her mother (and father). I don't think I will ever see her the same way as I have maybe in the past as my difficult child to raise. She has grown up so much and I think she is beginning to understand how precious life is . I think she may have a different way of looking at life now. Life can be humbling and rewarding.