Happy Sunday Everyone….
Just getting back from a coaching summit in San Antonio this past week. For being someone who has not been into group settings, I continue to be absolutely amazed with what is possible with a bunch of people coming together who have very similar ideals, principals, struggles, and goals. YTD: charity donations. 3.9 mill!!
I’m also blown away by how many outside things, events, and people, make me feel great every day. Folks telling me what I mean to them, my students, my friends at these events, winning sales contests and getting trips all over the place, clients, referral partners, you name it, I’m getting a compliment every single day, and I’ll fully admit, it doesn’t suck. Then I have no choice but to think about the fact that today is Mother’s Day. I think about how many compliments my mom received when I was growing up, I think about how many compliments Jack/Thomas/me give to Kim everyday about what kind of a mom she is. Unfortunately it’s not even in the realm of comparison, nor is the importance of what they’re doing/did vs. what I’m doing. I’m 100% certain if you asked my mom if she was a good mom, she’d tell you “no”. She’ll go back and remind me of picking me up late at football when the other kids were already gone (because she was teaching special education), she’ll tell you about her getting mad at me for some reason and storming out of the house. She’ll tell you she was focused on my dad and her just getting by and putting work first. Those statements might actually be factual but her interpretation of those events vs. how I view them are categorically different. I view those same set of facts and would say my mom worked her butt off helping troubled kids, I admire and respect her strong will and unwillingness to take crap from anyone, including me, and she taught me everything about work ethic, and sacrifice. I respect my mom, I admire my mom, and I love my mom but my dad is my best friend. My mom has taken a back seat to him in our relationship my whole life. Sharing a success story the phone call comes through and it is “mom, is dad there?”. Some business struggle “mom, is dad there?”, advice about life “mom is dad there?”. Same thing happens with Kim and the boys, more times than not, she does the heavy lifting and I swoop in for a short pep talk and end up with most of the credit. I don’t want this to read like a hallmark card but the whole thing is therapeutic to write about…For me, my clarity is that my mom did the absolute best she could and I love her for that. Kim is doing the absolute best she can with our boys, and I love her for that. It’s the most important job in the world. If you take the job seriously, it requires love, understanding, selflessness, sacrifice, patience, commitment, and at times, very tough love. With all that, you don’t always get back what you put into it (I’d say rarely), and you also don’t know the end result for years to come, nor are all of the words above going to guarantee your success. The job of Mom is hard, it deserves respect, it deserves accolades (from both kids and spouses), and it probably deserves it more than once a year. I’ll be doing my best to remember this.
Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms!!