It’s so cliché.
I want to roll my eyes when I hear it, but for some reason I can only nod in agreement. And I even too often hear it tumbling out of my own mouth into the ears of mothers of young children: “They grow up fast.”
When I wrote my first column, my firstborn was about to graduate from high school and leave home. This time, it’s my baby-baby flying the coop.
It’s early morning, and I’m sitting here enjoying a cup of coffee and watching “Hope Floats.”
I’ve already cried while watching the scene in the movie where Birdie visits her dad in the nursing home. While she’s making herself busy hanging pictures in his room and filling the silence with chit-chat, she turns around to see him standing with his arms out to her. She steps in, and they dance.
I’m a daddy’s girl.
Years ago, I remember walking into the den while my daughter was watching the reality TV show “16 and Pregnant.” I was initially shocked. MTV was pretty much a “no-no” in my house, and she was still pretty young to be watching it, in my opinion.
Instead of freaking out, I decided to watch an episode with her and let it launch a conversation that I’ve tried to keep open since then. Trust me, the episode was wrought with all kinds of teen drama, giving us plenty of things to talk about.
Imagine you and I are taking a walk together. We’re strolling through the woods on a sunny, warm day when we hear water and people in the distance.
We walk toward the sound and come up to a river rushing fast from recent rain. We are alarmed to see people in the water being swept away by the current. We also see a crowd of people standing on the banks, working furiously to pull them to safety.
We rush to join the crowd on the banks and begin working alongside them, pulling people out as quickly as we can. It seems the harder we work, the more people there are to be rescued.
“DSS dropped off a 4-day-old baby girl today.”
A huge smile crept across my face, and at the same time, tears filled my eyes in a mixture of both joy and sadness when I read that in a text message. Sadness about whatever unknown situation had a 4-day-old baby needing a safe and secure home, and joy that my friends would get to be her foster parents.
I can hardly wait to cheer on “our” home team, the Carolina Panthers, on Super Bowl Sunday! It is easy to see how having national sports teams feed our state’s economy. The money that the sports industry generates is obvious, and it clearly impacts many associated markets.
Would you believe me if I told you that the child care industry in North Carolina generates more than $1.7 billion a year, and that figure is on par with the revenue generated by the spectator sports industry in North Carolina (think Carolina Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes and Charlotte Hornets)?
My family’s Eastern North Carolina roots meant I grew up with NASCAR in the background on TV. I barely paid attention, and outside of being able to tell you that a man named Richard Petty drove a race car, I couldn’t have told you a thing about the sport until I attended my first race in the fall of 2014. I was lucky enough to learn a little bit about it from a former NASCAR pit crew member who patiently explained it to me. There’s much more to it than cars going fast around a track. My favorite part may have been watching the pit crew at work. It is fascinating.
Last spring, I sat with a group of volunteers in a classroom at Hendersonville High School getting ready to judge senior project presentations. A young woman walked in and I mistook her for a teacher. My interest was piqued when I realized she was one of the students I’d be judging because her poise and demeanor suggested a more mature person. When all the students had gathered, we went around the room introducing ourselves, trying to create a friendly environment and encouraging them to relax so they could do their best.
Think back to when you were a child. Can you think of an adult outside of your immediate family (not your parents or grandparents) who had a positive influence on your life? What are three things about that person that stood out to you?
I sat in a training session with my coworkers recently and we were asked to go through this exercise. Here are the things we said out these special people in our lives: authentic, real, consistent, vulnerable, relatable, willing to fight for me (literally), advocate, honest, they showed up, they were nonjudgmental,
I’ve heard two comments in the past week that are disturbing. One was from a local pediatrician who lamented that there was only one pediatric psychiatrist (a different level of training than a psychiatrist who treats adults) in WNC who accepts Medicaid, leaving many of the children in her care without quick access to the help they need.
Children & Family Resource Center
Mon-Thurs 8:00-5:00
Friday 8:00 -3:00
851 Case St. Hendersonville, NC 28792
p: 828.698.0674
f: 828.698.5532
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