LIFE/MIKEY: Laid Up and Layed Off

One of the wonderful things about Mikey, about children, is their ability to make you forget your troubles and to smile when all else is making you want to frown or cry.

I've been experiencing one of those times in life when everything seems aligned against me. Bad things coming all at once.

It started with finding out I had two kidney stones (one huge). I've now had two surgeries and I'm still not feeling great but I have a high pain tolerance so I get through each day the best I can. {Update: For those of you who don't live on the Eastern seaboard and didn't hear the screams coming from my bathroom...I passed a couple stones this weekend...OUCH!!!}

Then came my car problems. But, those can easily be explained. You see, I just made the last payment on my car. And, by law, it is required to begin breaking down and falling apart. I've spent almost $2,000 in the past couple months and keeping getting told that it is "fixed." Yeah, the only thing fixed is the mechanic's income from getting all my money!

And, the final blow {Update: I'll write another post soon about how this was not the final blow}, I was layed off two weeks ago from work. Of course, I was told that they'd like me to stay on until July (if I want to get my severance package). And that's all I can say about that at the moment. You see, speech is not always free and unlimited in this country.

So, with all that going on, life has not been full of blue skies, birds singing, and all that good stuff lately. But, Mikey is an inspiration. He inspires me to get past my pain. He inspires me to find a better job and to be able to use my skills and experience for even better things. I watch the way he is learning to communicate through the efforts of his wonderful teachers and I'm so amazed and impressed.

One of the things I want to teach him is that persistence pays off in life. Life can hammer at you at times and knock you down so low you don't think you'll ever get up. But with a strong will and positive attitude you can rise above any challenges and be happy and successful.