Cry If You Want

So I'm using Google's portal home page thing (igoogle). One of the widgets is called "Einstein Quote of The Day". This is my favorite thing so far about igoogle, other than the gmail inbox view. Here's today's quote:

'Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.'

Right on. This is what I've been trying to get across to my son Adrian. He's 9 and learning to read, write, spell and process life with dyslexia. He wants so badly to be perfect, but he can't. So I've been talking to him about how it's ok to not get things right all the time. And it's ok to feel bad about it. The crappy feelings will go away. Keep practicing. As my friend Paul's wife Laura says "Practice makes pretty good!"

I found this out myself the past few weeks. We were going to do a 'big number' at my spiritual community meeting (ok, it's a church, but church just doesn't describe it correctly. And neither does 'spiritual community meeting' for that matter.) The song was "Border Song" by Elton John. My role was to play the keyboard part, accompanying a small chorus and a soloist. Harder than it sounds, by the way. I practiced my ass off. I remembered to breath, to pray and to have it not be about me and how great my playing is, but about God and how, to me, music is a prayer. And it was great. When it was over, I turned to Ozzie and said "Yay, I didn't fail!!" I've been waiting about 28 years for that moment.

I just ordered this little thingy for Adrian. I told him about it and he's excited about the idea of it. He decided he wanted to read a "really big chapter book." The book he settled on was "Peter and the Starcatchers" by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. The thing is, he can't quite read it on his own. He needs help about every 10-15 words. And the book is over 400 pages. We're leaving for a week's vacation on Saturday, so I thought this Franklin thing could help him in the car. I'm excited about it, too.

Today is another Tysabri infusion day. Yay. I'm taking a break in the hospital cafe. Oddly, I love it here. Doctors, patients, nurses, technicians - everyone hanging out, taking a break. I just made friends with a 15 month old boy and picked up his spoon 9 times in a row. It's a very pleasant place. Plus, they make the best banana bread.

ps. i just showed up for my infusion and they are saying "what infusion??" They don't have me on the schedule. [Big scream here - think Roger Daltrey in 'Won't Get Fooled Again'] They are going to try and work it out. I'm taking a deep breath and hoping for the best, expecting the worst.

pps. Hooray - I am watching the Tysabri enter my body as we speak. This drug seems to have been so helpful to me that it brings tears to my eyes, if not outright weeping. (Of course, it may also be the pain that I feel in the top of my head once the infusions starts. Alright, that's a joke. There is pain but that's not why I'm crying.) The infusion center at the hospital was *extremely* apologetic about their mistake, and did what they had to. Man, I really appreciate that. And I've told them to pass on my appreciation to the pharmacist who mixed the drug (or whatever it is) unexpectedly.

Comments

Paul O'Brian said…
It's actually "Practice makes slightly better!" but you were close. Keep practicing. :)

Woo, congratulations on the Border Song triumph! That is awesome! Also, the little thingy looks cool. I hope it's helpful to him.
trrish said…
ha - I like that my version of Laura was so perky. :-)

Thanks - the Border song thing really was quite wonderful. I could feel my grandmother (who taught me to play) smiling.

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