Those are the moments when they all fully engage. And the one thing for my family is that the story is the goal.Ĭarol’s fifth-graders love it when she tells stories. But I also know that a person can’t truly live when wallowing in misery, that the story comes about when we overcome and that finding goodness, joy and hope brings happiness and peace. My family is as human as anyone and we’ve made horrific mistakes, terrible decisions, and hurt each other. Second, maybe instead you believe that I’ve deliberately deceived myself and whitewashed the life I lived. First, that you might believe I lived a perfect life with perfect parents in perfect circumstances. You know, sometimes I worry that as I tell my stories, you could go one of two ways. Who taught us that laughter cures a million fears and love fixes a million more.
Who found stories, even while working through difficult issues and problems. I am incredibly grateful for parents who looked for the good, even when things were miserable.
It’s all in the way we look at things, isn’t it? A new opportunity to do wonderful things, new possibilities for positive responses. The next thing he knew his friend was skiing backwards, holding Jim’s skis, his face plowing through the snow. Jim started to lean forward and put his hands on Parker’s head. He skied backwards, his hands holding the tips of Jim’s skis in place. He couldn’t get his skis to point the right way any longer. He still hadn’t made it all the way down the mountainside and Parker had been up and down several times. His blue jeans were heavier from being soaked in the snow after falling so many times.
With every word, I watched the story grow and I started to laugh.
He told us about the absurdity of learning to go up the ski lift, he talked about learning how to point his skis – and not doing so well. Jim’s first trip down the slopes, he wore heavy blue jeans – it’s all he had. One of his best friends was going to teach him how to ski. Anyway, in the hospital, he got to telling us about his first ever ski experience.