14 Mar Late Night Ramblings

Yes, I realize I just posted a blog, but that was more of an informational type post. This one’s more of a thinking post.

I just spent the late 40 minutes filling out a questionnaire for my friend Leah, who is writing an article about myself and my family and Uncover Ostomy. She asked some pretty  intense questions, one’s I hadn’t really taken the time to think about until now. I’m glad she asked them though, and I’m glad I answered them with nothing else to do but watch the time change on my computer for daylight savings time.

The one question that really made me think, was this one:

11. What’s the most important thing your Mom and/or Dad ever taught you?

It actually took me a very long time to think about. How you can just pinpoint the most important lesson your parents have taught you? Every lesson they teach is important [no matter how much you whine and think you’re smarter than them, they really do know what they’re talking about.]

This was the answer that I came up with:

“My parents taught me tons of things, it’s hard to type them all out.. But some things that stick out are that the people who love you will always be there for you and that I always need to try my best, and even if my best isn’t the best, it still counts for just the same.”

After thinking about the question and then thinking about my life over the past few weeks, these are the things that really stuck out. Probably because they are the most relevant, but more likely because they are always true.

As I answered all Leah’s questions about my disease and how I dealt with it, I thought about all the time and effort and support my parents gave me during that time. It was definitely not easy for them, having a kid spend the majority of two years in the hospital and making sure that there was ALWAYS one parent who slept over. It also couldn’t have been easy to sleep at night knowing their child was sick. Or easy knowing they had another child to worry about as well. And knowing they had to keep each other around. And knowing that they didn’t know what the road ahead would entail.

They stuck it out because they love me.

And even though my dad is gone now, I know that he’s still sticking it out for me.

I wrote down the second lesson that they taught me, about trying your best, because I feel like sometimes I need to remember that. Well, in university, you always have to think like that and I’ve been forgetting. It’s hard to get a mark back that you aren’t happy with but know how much effort and study time you put in. Sure, the marks may not help you graduate [ok, I didn’t do thattttt badly, I’m just saying for the sake of argument], but you can’t really do more than try. Life is like that too. You can’t make everyone happy, but you can try with everything you have. Trying is what matters, not the end result.

These two lessons are probably the most important lessons that I’ll have ever learned.

Thanks parents.