Growing up I was fortunate to be close to my cousins. I only had three. My sister and I were closest to our cousins on my dad’s side because we were basically the same ages. Emily and I were super close! She is only 6 months older than I am and we loved spending time together. Each Christmas break (and usually 1 time a summer) we could talk our parents into letting us spend a week or so together. “We can meet ½ way!!!” we would always say. I guess we did not realize the stress of living two states away put on our folks…. Oh well?!
As life went on, we grew up, got busy and didn’t stay as close. Emily and I would exchange the yearly Christmas card and call on our birthdays. Recently, both my father and uncle passed away. This brought Emily and I back together. We have talked and texted a bunch! The stress, emotion, and heartache of dealing with aging parents can be hard. It is a wonderful blessing to get to be a part of… but emotionally, it can be hard. You often don’t know what to do and it’s good to have a sounding board.
In a particular conversion, Emily told me about a discussion she and her dad, my Uncle Bubba, had when she was a kid. For whatever reason, one of my cousins ALWAYS seemed to have a broken arm and this time it was Emily. She was told that it was a super bad break and that she was going to have a full cast for at least three months! "THREE MONTHS is a long time!" Emily said to her dad. Uncle Bubba gave her a hug and told her it would all be ok and she was just going to have to learn to write left- handed.
“Left-handed! I can’t do that! That is so hard!” Emily exclaimed!
“ You have no choice, do you?” He replied. "You will HAVE to - You can do it!”
Emily did persevere! She learned to write left-handed- it was messy, but eventually it became legible and it was fine. Uncle Bubba knew all this - he knew she could do it! She had no choice.
Think about it! In life things happen and we are thrown into situations that we don’t think we can do (like Emily writing left -handed). They are not the norm - they are uncomfortable - THEY WILL BE MESSY! But we have to do them!
From these situations we learn! We learn we can do hard things! We learn we can persevere! We learn a “new normal.” Sometimes we can go back to the way things were and it's even better, but sometimes we can’t.
Now, Emily, Julian (my other cousin), my sister and I are learning to live life without our dads - learning to cope with the messy parts of life - we are figuring out a “new normal.” I guess we are all now “learning to write LEFT - HANDED!” and we will be just fine!
What in your life have you had to deal with that was uncomfortable? What is something you could never imagine having to do… but you had to? What has gotten messy, but with repetition and hard work is getting or will get easier?
Hang in there! It’s time to write left-handed!!!!! YOU CAN DO THIS!