Thursday, May 22, 2014

Love and Respect.

   I started back to school on Monday. I had a wonderful, peaceful time at Tommy's, then flew back into the Phoenix area on Sunday morning. After church the boys and I basically had a lazy day. For FHE on Monday the boys wanted to go see the latest Spiderman movie so we did.

   Which reminds me, Tommy took me to the IMAX rendition of Godzilla. I hadn't been to an IMAX in years. Like a child, I wanted to reach out and touch whenever objects appeared smack in front of my face. I love it that Tommy makes a point of spending time with me. Xiaojun is wonderful, too; she respects and shares feelings and concerns with me. They both make me feel needed and loved. Noel, Brickman, and Lincoln are adorable. They also treat me with great respect and love. I loved it when they wanted to sit right next to me, and would follow me into the next room. It's times like these that make being a grandma so rewarding. They are happy and well-adjusted, being taught not only academics, sports, music, and spiritual matters, but also manners, discipline and respect.  Their eyes are bright and full of mischief and fun. The spirit of their home and relationship is very inviting and comforting.

   I attended Brickman's first chess tournament. I was impressed that Tommy and Xiaojun made a point to teach him to make friends with his chess partners and how to act gracious and kind after his wins, and to be a good sport. Some parents don't think of these aspects of life lessons. I give myself some credit for trying to teach this way as well so it was reassuring to see this passed on to my grandchildren. Tommy and Xiaojun are both very aware as parents and extremely involved and constantly on the alert to teach in the moment. It's a 24/7 job and some parents do not get this.

 


   It sounds like we will be overloaded in my program during the summer. There is a LOT of writing and reading, presentations and role-playing. The professors say that if we can make it through this summer Bridge Program then it should seem easier through the Fall and Spring semesters. Now that I'm in the master's program I foresee that the content is very interesting and I feel excited that this is the right degree for me. I feel anxious about the statistics class coming up though, but hopefully Emrie will help get me through it okay. 

   Who would have ever thought that I'd be earning a master's degree?! It was never in my wildest dreams, to tell you the truth. I always wanted a college education and hoped that someday I could obtain a bachelor's degree, but that was it. So this is about as surprising to me as it is to anyone else. I am fortunate and blessed for this opportunity. Yesterday one of my classmates asked me how old I was and when I said 59 her mouth dropped and she looked sincerely in shock, then stared at me for a few seconds. I know I'm an older student but it's never too late, right? And besides that, I will get it without any debt! I feel blessed and thankful for this opportunity. 

   It was nice to have Nathan's family come over and use my pool and eat pizza today. As the girls were swimming around I watered plants and had fun spraying them. Ashlynn would not answer my questions and this bothers me. Nathan bought a 2005 Harley Davidson. He's pretty proud of it and I wish I had taken his picture as he drove away. 
   

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