About six years ago I was sitting at a red light muttering to myself.
No, I did not need to be referred to an asylum. But I had been getting myself very worked up about an upcoming birthday party for my almost 6 year old. (Jacob)
The endless to do list was swirling in my head as I remonstrated with myself about planning a party for 18 kindergarteners in my house in a particularly snowy December. As I pulled up to those traffic lights, I was stressing about the weather and the games, party gifts, food and home made birthday cake.
And while that nagging voice continued, I suddenly had an epiphany.........
We often use the words waiting and being patient interchangeably. We wait on the phone for a real live person and are thanked for our patience. We ask our children to wait for us to get off the phone and ask them to be patient. We wait at lights, at the doctor's office and in line at the bank and all these things certainly try our patience!
This week I learned how different they can be as I had the opportunity to revisit a labyrinth.
This past weekend our middle son Aron received his EMT certification. An EMT is an Emergency Medical Technician who works on an ambulance and fire truck. It is a process that began eleven months ago, when Aron joined the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department. He has volunteered at the fire station and on the ambulance every Wednesday night after school until 11.00pm, juggling 11th grade schoolwork and his father’s illness and brain surgery. He has gone on emergency calls from 5.00pm until 7.00am the next day, on Saturday nights and during school breaks. He has attended calls to attempted suicide victims, car crashes and sick infants, fall and stroke victims and a pregnant woman whose water had broken. On top of that time commitment, he has also completed 131 hours of classroom training and 12 exams to become a state of Maryland certified EMT.
In this age of helicopter parenting and being connected to our children 24/7 via phone, text, email and Facebook, it came as quite a shock to us, to wave Aron off,at the age of 16 into the belly of the local fire station.
