Parental Support (is Grand!)

You know, it's really funny but my parents have always been the sort of people to encourage me to stretch my wings.  I can remember being REALLY young, and BOTH my parents telling me, repeatedly, that I could do or be anything I set my mind to.  And that is a really important thing to tell your kids.  Like me, they will remember it always.

They might even listen to you!

The odd thing here is, that the one person in my life who supported me NO MATTER WHAT (at least, if you want to go back all the way and count elementary school years) was my Grandma.  She was a hoot, that one.  She is the one who would dance on the table in a crowded restaurant on a dare.  The one who tried to sneak me out to go drinking and play cards in Scotland when I was 14.  She was a trouble-maker, that one!

She was also (like both my grandmothers) an educated woman.  She always had a career that rivaled her husband.  She was a stickler for details, and had plenty of opinions.  She wasn't shy about sharing them either!  Even if you hadn't asked.  Even if she didn't know you.

And whether I was 9 or 19, if I did something that NO ONE ELSE approved of...  She would still pull me aside and tell me she loved me and that she believed in me.  Even if she didn't like what I was doing.  And when she had enough sense to know that, whatever trouble I had brought upon myself THIS TIME -- she realized it didn't matter to HER.

When I was down on myself, she would tell me "Smile.  It makes the World wonder what you are up to!".  To this day, I take those words to heart.

I sadly lost my Grandma too early.  There are so many things I wish she could have been here for.  Like, I really wish she could have met my husband.  Man, THAT would have been ALL KINDS of trouble!  The type requiring bail money, no doubt.

And I wonder what she would think of my writing, my blogs.

Then again, I KNOW what she would say.  She would say that she believes in me, that if I want this I can make it happen.  She would be my biggest cheerleader, in a group that is already amazingly large and amazingly AMAZING!

Grandma always KNEW.  She knew I would always push the envelope.  She knew I was a risk-taker.  She knew I would always need to speak my mind.  Because this is her legacy to me.  This is the part of her that lives on in me.  Even though she was an ACCOUNTANT -- she had the soul of an explorer, an innovator, an artist even.

The funny thing is, the one other person in my life who would always encourage me to "go for it!", no matter what the consequences...  Who sees my true spirit, and who has unconditional faith that I can make ANYTHING happen (even if/though their opinion is COMPLETELY biased) -- well, I married him.

To have two people in one lifetime who encourage you this way, is absolutely unbelievable.  I am SERIOUSLY leading a charmed life!

I don't want to minimize the support I get from other friends, or that from family and from my parents, all of which is also truly a blessing.  But my husband has to put up with reading my "stuff" every day.  He is always thinking of ways to get more people to see my blog.  And every single day, he tells me I'm going to have a million readers someday soon.  EVERY SINGLE DAY, people!

I am a lot of work.

There are friends who have compared me to Dave Barry (a huge honor in my book), who have sent literally DOZENS of friends to my blog to read, and who have offered any help they can give, to get me published one day.  This is all some very serious stuff.

There are friends who have proof-read me, and answered the call for requests on the blog site.  I can't do without you all!  I am eternally grateful.

But still, I have to say, that if I ever get a syndicated column somewhere, make a real living off a blog or website, or get a book published -- the credit will go in equal parts to my Grandma and my husband.  Because it's a very hard thing, to convince me to trust in myself.  

Did I mention, I am a LOT of work?

So to all of you (and there are SO many!) I thank you.  I don't think of what I do so much as a talent, rather an illness.  There is so much going on in my brain, and writing just barely covers the overflow.  I am so impressed with my friends, however, that I marvel at ANY kind word I receive...  And am always thankful if I can entertain.  

I usually feel that, if someone can count their real, true friends on one hand with less than a finger or two left over, that they can count their life as a success.  But I run out of fingers AND toes.  You guys are superb.