Disappointment

Unfortunately, disappointment is one of those inevitable ways of life. You can't always have everything you want. Heck, even Lindsay Lohan goes to jail (snicker).

I've had lots of disappointments in my life. Most recently, I received a letter stating that I did not win my current dream job in insurance. However, I don't let me disappointments define me (most of the time). No, I didn't get my job; but this gives me time to get in the insurance classes I really do need before jumping headfirst into a claims job. When I was learning to play piano in grade school, Mrs. Wells' always told me that as long as you trudge on and pick the tune right back up when you make a mistake, no one will notice that you flubbed Chopin, Beethoven or Tchaikowsky. This was some of the best advice I could ever apply to my life. In school, I never wanted to be last- in anything. I would be disappointed when I got a B on a paper (devastaed at anything lower). Seeing those sub-par grades made me strive to do better next time. When I was a Freshman in High School, I was a fierce basketball competitor. (small and strong with sharp elbows is always a deadly combination) Long story short, the ball was headed for out-of-bounds and I dove for it; grabbed it just in time to throw it back and look face-first into the brick gym wall. Yep. Got knocked halfway through the first quarter. Did I mope and cry about it? (ok, so I did cry some. That really hurt!) After half-time, when the coach was sure I didn't have a concussion, I was right back in that game, as competitive as ever. I didn't let that one mishap scare me away from the game. Skip ahead to freshman at K-State. Came home for a weekend visit and was t-boned by an idiot woman going 80 mph. Fortunately, my brain blocked out the entire incident, so I can only go by what I'm told. But that didn't scare me from driving. In fact, a good road-trip is one of my absolute favorite things!

Yes, I'm competitive. Always have been, always will be. But I think that's one thing that helps push me through disappointments in life. And I'm proud to want to do the best I can. No, I don't always "win", but I use that disappointment and look for the silver lining. I learn from those failures and disappointments so that it Never. Happens. Again.

This brings me around to how parents are trying to raise the village lately. Dodgeball is forbidden to be played for grade school P.E. class (too violent), t-ball is no longer being scored (they don't want anyone to be labeled as "loser"), a parent can't so much as threaten to tap their kids on the butt when they misbehave, let alone actually SPANK them (gasp! such cruelty will scar them for life!), and kids are getting passed to the next grade in school- even if they DON'T know the necessary skills to read and write, just so that no one feels like a failure. I'm almost surprised they haven't done away with P.E. altogether; afterall, we can't have our "babies" be tired! ARGH!!! I absolutely loathe all this coddling that is being done. If you completely shield your children from LIFE and it's disappointments, how the heck do you expect them to live ON THEIR OWN when they're grown??? These spoiled brats are going to graduate high school, expect their parents to pay for everything until they graduate college, and just EXPECT to land whatever dream job they want. After all, no one has ever told them or showed them that they. might. not. Oh, how the suicide rate will go up once this generation gets into real life and realizes that life is not a bowl full of Jell-o.

Like all moms, I don't want my daughter to have to face disappointment. But at the same time, I know she will and plan on being right there to help her work through it. And, of course, push her to do better and encourage that wonderful competitive streak she inherited from her daddy and me :)