I asked for inspiration for blog topics the other day and received some great ideas. Shan wanted me to write about how wonderful my oldest daughter is because she is my oldest daughter and therefore somewhat biased I would presume. I wasn't going to do that but I think it fits in with the Giving Thanks theme of the week (self imposed theme) during which I make every attempt not to get sucked into the next holiday hysteria. If you have no desire to read about how wonderful my family is...you may want to stop reading now. It is almost Thanksgiving and this is what I am thankful for, self indulgent? Of course it is...but it's my blog and I am in total control...I don't want this post to turn in to a 20 page entry so I will post about one kid at a time today is Shan's day.
The oldest child always seems to be the one stuck with the highest expectations from the parents, birth order misfortune. Shan mostly lived up to the expectations-she walked at 9 months old looking like a precocious little tiny person, talked at a very early age...and never stopped since and like all "only" children she was a GENIUS in our own minds. Shan has always been a very determined, outspoken, independent spirit. I love that but it means that we had our moments when our ideals didn't exactly meet. For example she didn't always feel like she wanted to go to school. I do remember one day when she was really putting up a fight about it, I gave her her lunch box and shoved her out the door and told her to get her butt up to the bus stop. She thought it might be a good idea to go ahead and open the door and tell me no...so I locked her out. She then PLASTERED her entire body up against the front room window and howled like a banshee thinking she would get her way. When I opened the door and she saw the look on my face, she knew that wasn't going to happen so she started running down the street, lunch box swinging away with me running after her in my lovely pajamas to make sure she got to the bus stop. We had this little encounter maybe once or twice a week. It was exhausting.
She managed to skip school quite often during her high school years and we were on a first name basis with much of the staff. It's hard when you work full time to make sure your teens finish school. Even though she had to read something like 8 books in the last couple of weeks of her high school career in order to graduate she did make it.
Just so you don't think she was a total brat, she managed to hold down a job for about 3 years when she was in high school, which is really remarkable for that age. Here's the thing, we didn't have a lot of money when the kids were growing up but I don't think they felt poor. The kids know what's important in life, people not things.
Shan has three wonderful kids, a great husband and she is one of the busiest people I know. I am very proud of how she puts family first, and she certainly does that. She is a Girl Scout leader, she helps at the Co-op school and is the first to volunteer for anything that is needed. She is a childbirth educator and a doulah. She is not the world's most organized person and she will wear you out just watching her take care of all of her responsibilities, but she does it. Shan has a lot of friends, and the reason is because she is fun to be around, and she cares about people. Shan lives up to her values and has taught her own children to do the same. She spent most of the summer taking care of my dying mother. Shan and grandma were very close, she brought my mom and my dad a great deal of comfort being there. It was a heartbreaking summer for all of us but Shan put grandma first and dealt with her own sorrow later. Shan is a remarkable lady. I could obviously go on and on .
I love my oldest superstar!!!!
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