Share Four Somethings - June 2022

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Taking a little time on a rather rainy summer afternoon to share Something Loved, Something Gleaned, Something Braved and Something Achieved. I'm a little ahead of the anchor post which will appear on the weekend, but that's better than being late! Now I'll just need to remember to link up . . .

Something Loved

I've been thinking a lot about God's provision and timing lately, especially in the jobs we have. Remember right at the beginning of this year, my husband unexpectedly and abruptly lost his job of almost 25 years. He was offered a good severance package, but he still needed to find a new job and we were quite sure that we'd have to move in order to make that happen. The thought was overwhelming - we were not ready to pack up or sell the house, and I certainly wasn't ready emotionally for that step! But in less than six weeks my husband was employed. Here. So we didn't have to move! And it's an excellent job, working for and with really good people. We did not "settle" - it was a very positive change! 

More recently, with one of my teaching obligations complete, I also started working at the same nursery! And for me, it's also a great job with the flexibility and time frames I need, and it's work I enjoy. God is so good in giving so generously!

No high-rise office buildings and crowded rush hour commutes for us!

Something Gleaned

June is typically filled with graduation parties, all the tasks associated with the end of the school year and beginning of summer, and often weddings too. So it was no surprise that the "Memories" section of my Facebook page contained a number of photos and links to articles related to those themes. A couple of them really stood out to me.

From the Today Parenting Team in 2018, I re-read The 'exit interview': A poignant reminder of how quickly our kids grow up. This fanciful look at how a mother is promoted from parenting a toddler to parenting a pre-teen, then to parenting a teen, and then to parenting a young adult. The question is a familiar one to many moms: "How can you really know that I've done my job well enough to move on? How will I really ever know?"  The answer from the imagined interviewer comes as an encouragement: "This career is what you make of it . . . What you do with it is your choice. Once you are promoted to the next level, there is no going back . . . this is a lifetime career. The positions may change along the way, but you will always be employed." 

I also found a ring of truth in an older article from the Grown & Flown website: Parenting Teens Means Life Becomes A Series Of Goodbye Moments. Once our kids start launching and moving into independence, we as parents have to be willing to let them go, and sometimes that's not easy. This short article points out that it's necessary to put on our brave face as we watch our young adults get on planes or go off to college or move out on their own, because that's the achievement we've been preparing them for. Truth is, as parents, we feel unprepared for how it hits us in the feels. As I've reminded my daughter sometimes, there's part of me that will forever remember her as my baby girl so humor me by reassuring me that you arrived safely at your destination. 

"I needed to train my mind into thinking that each and every time we share a goodbye, it's a good thing. It means they possess the fearless certainty I just spent two decades ensuring they have, and now that it was on full display, I needed to embrace it fully, not doubt its timing. In the same way we train our muscles to become stronger by flexing them over and over again, I needed to flex my brave goodbye muscle." ~Melissa Fention, Grown & Flown author

Something Braved or Something Saved

I'm going to get just a little bit ahead of myself and say that I will have braved a full knee replacement surgery! The original surgery date was June 16th, but thanks to a single missing insurance form (don't get me started; it was very frustrating) that date was cancelled and I had to reschedule. So it's happening on June 30th, so I'm counting it! Because it's scary to me! And also, I've already braved all the pre-op appointments and labwork, which involved bloodwork. That's really hard for me, and because I have awful veins, I suspect that getting the needle for the anesthesia into me on surgery day will be a nightmare. That is something I will need to brave, and certainly coping with the pain afterwards and the hard work of rehab will be something to brave.

Something Achieved

I have done a lot of work getting myself and my house ready for me to be functional post-surgery. Having that deadline provided the necessary motivation to finally clean and reorganize my bedroom and the bathrooms. My personal preparation has consisted of what they call PRE-hab exercises, and although I haven't been as consistent as I'd like, I have done a decent job of getting through the stretches and strength builders each day. With just a week to go, I still have a few things to tidy up and I'll set up the living room so I can "live" there for the first couple days.

This post will be linked at Share Four Somethings hosted by HeatherGerwing.com

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