More Life Lessons 101 with Teacher Katie: complaints

Keep your big mouth shut...have you ever heard this saying?

 

You don't go very long in the pediatric cancer world before you find someone who has it worse than you--often a lot worse. Though someone whose child has cancer has a lot worth griping about, that doesn't mean they should do it. This is something I've had to remind myself of often, because it's so easy for me to fall into the complaint mode! The fact is, we ALL have something worth griping about. Though my child doesn't have cancer anymore, she does have side effects. Sometimes she has to go to physical therapy, sometimes other therapies, and that means taking her to appointments. I have a life outside of her illness, so these appointments are inconvenient. I have to remind myself that I don't care if they are inconvenient. I want what is best for her, so I do it. Period.

You may not have a child with cancer, but surely you are busy. We all are. You have your own storms: they may be physical, mental, or emotional. We all have problems, and I'd bet we can all agree that all of them suck.

I grew up with a saying (that is likely and hopefully untrue, but still) that says, "90% of the people you tell your troubles to, don't care. The other 10% are glad you've got them." While I don't think EVERYONE is that callous, I do think there is a lesson to learn from the saying. While your problems are most important to you, my problems are most important to me. So the next time I feel like complaining, I'm going to take my own advice and keep my big mouth shut! Do you ever feel like complaining (I know the answer to that!)? How do you deal?

We're Home!

Wow.  That is the best word that I can think of to describe our trip to "The Lighthouse".  This group of loving, caring people pampered us, catered to us, prayed with us, and played with us.  We had (in Emma's words) "the best time ever"!

Each day began at 8am with breakfast, then moved on to "Morning Watch", a daily devotion time.  After that, the kids split up into groups and the parents had a type of group therapy.  We were actually kind of leery of this part.  We didn't want to sit with a group of strangers and talk about our feelings.  Guess what?  That turned out to be our favorite part!  Being with these brave and strong parents, who were fighting the same montsters as us, helped us so much.  It was enlightening, and we found new strength and wisdom.

My favorite thing that was said was from one of the dads.  He said that we are the lucky ones.  Most parents, he said, have to teach their kids about their math homework, or their spelling homework, and they complain about that.

We get to teach our kids about LIVING!  We are showing them how to fight, how to be strong, how to cope and move on, how to be happy in spite of the bad.  We are the lucky ones.  I loved this!

Another parent said that she feels like her life is too big.  I definitely feel like that sometimes, too.  How can I handle all of these big things?  But knowing that I am not alone in this helps more than I can say.

After this we had lunch each day, and then free time (which we spent at the beach!).  In the evening we had supper, and then some type of group activity.  On the last night there was a talent show.  Emma and Ashlyn were sooooo cute!

Overall the trip was a success, and we definitely plan on attending next year.  Thank you for sharing it with us!