the eye of the needle

When my girls were little, I revelled in how they were alike and how they were so different.

When I would take them for shots, one shook with a fear that was deep and phobic while the other loved to watch the needle going into her arm.

As life continues, you resist the temptation to put them into boxes and categories for fear that they or anyone else will do the same with you. Limit not your loved ones or yourself.  Let me surprise you and myself is what gets me out of the bed in the morning.

And surprise me they both did and do. The one who took more time to get down the stairs, always holding the railing, flew skiing down hills straight, almost flying, in a way that made me gasp, while the other who loved to stare into the eye of the needle, was afraid of heights and more cautious on the hills.

The element of surprise that permeates all aspects of life makes me love motherhood and my own journey more than I ever thought possible.

My needle shaker who has been amazingly brave in so many ways,  took her recent difficulty and made it work for her. Imagine the glory of taking your hardship and making sense out of it.

She decided that she wanted, more than anything else, to go for the role on campus of Director of the Peer Support Centre.  She has been a volunteer there since September. This is a full time paid job starting May 1st for a period of one year.  The Director would hire and manage 50 volunteers and 12 part time staff. She researched the position, met with people to gain insight, wrote up recommendations, spent hours on the application and was interviewed intensely by a panel.

When they asked her what the centre means to her- she cried as she told them. In the end, they felt of all their applicants, she was the best and the most passionate about it. She led with her heart and got hired for it.

I am so proud of her.

She is staring into the eye of the needle. And that is so brave, after all.

 

the same, different, the same and always surprising

the same, different, the same and always surprising