It's always been a painful word for me. I suffer from it, maybe too much. I'm too proud to... admit that I'm wrong, listen to other opinions that are different than mine, think outside the box that I've so carefully constructed to protect all of the things that I really think need protecting, but really don't.
My pride has suffered the past several years. And in that suffering, I've grown tremendously.
But it's returned lately. And in a big, and very different, way.
I've mentioned my kids a lot on my blog. I spent some time with each of them last weekend (always not enough), and here's what I saw...
I saw my oldest daughter, Maggie, extremely happy working in "IT". She's finally landed in a place for full-time employment where she really believes she 'fits'. She's costuming the play, "Pippin", for a high school. But not doing a lot of the work herself, she's actually teaching the art of costuming to her students. Her paycheck is that of a coach, as well it should be. She's the president of the Minnesota Society of Costumers and is doing a couple of shows this weekend.
I saw my other daughter, Katie, happily raising my grandsons (Curt and Joe) and watched her interactions with them and her profound and very deep love for each of them. I got to look at her art, in many forms, and even commissioned her to do three paintings for my new apartment in Harlem. She's exhibiting this weekend at the St. Paul Art Crawl, showing some of her paintings and her needlework and her furniture. Being extremely creative while raising twins.
I saw my son, Tom, working as an Assistant General Manager at a Noodles & Co. When I walked in, he was cooking. And was so dialed in to that he didn't notice me for about 10 minutes. When he did, he made me dinner. (Know what it's like when your son makes you dinner?) And we hung out after his shift was done for a bit and just had a couple drinks and talked. He's working on opening another store in a couple of weeks and is continuing to grow in that company.
Yeah, that thing about pride. My traditional notion of the pride that held me back, that thing that I've been working so hard to bust apart, is back in spades. But it's back for my kids. Because all of the things I said above that held me back, I believe they saw that. And I believe that they don't do the same things I did for such a long time.
You have no idea how proud I am of my kids.
