THE BEGINNING

I wanted to post this on Thursday evening when I was finally done with my 5-months long leadership class, but was simply too exhausted as I came home. I originally wanted to name the journal entry “DONE”, but realized as I was driving home that I might be done with class, but that it’s truly the beginning, not the end. I might not go to class every week anymore, but this summer will be busy in getting all pieces in place for the sibling support program. The first group will start on September 11th, and it will be running until June 11th of 2011. It just didn’t feel like any sort of ending with that commitment ahead of me!

People take classes outside work and in the evening all the time. It’s no big deal for most people. For me, it was an accomplishment that I will graduate from this class. You could have a total of 3 absences in order to graduate, and I knew with Jacob’s hospitalizations and sometimes simply not feeling well that this was not a lot. My first two absences happened due to a late doctor’s appointment running way into class schedule, and the second one Jacob was sick in the hospital. As Jacob started to be in and out of the hospital in May, I was sure I would not complete class. I was even debating if it maybe would be better to simply quit than waiting for that 3rd absence to happen. One of the facilitators of the class encouraged me to just keep on going. I followed her lead, and realized two weeks before class ending that I had that 3rd absence still available! I actually used it for an evening event with Sarah that I just didn’t expect that I would be able to attend!

Tonight, I will be missing the local graduation as we’re up in the mountains. That’s ok. It’s a big accomplishment for us that we made it up here, all four of us! I just miss that I won’t be able to celebrate with the 15 other students that are so proud of what they have accomplished, and what they are about to accomplish with their projects. State graduation is on Saturday July 24th, if you want to attend (details to follow). I will hold a speech for our group in Adams county. Not sure yet the exact topic, but probably what FLTI (Family Leadership Training Institute) means to me, and what it has changed in my life.

Apart from that, we’re enjoying our vacation. The winter weather has forced us to slow down our pace. It works well for Jacob. We have all been enjoying the pools a lot, and today Sarah and lots of other kids had snowball fights in the pool! Yesterday, Jacob decided to skip nap completely. Today, he has slept for hours! We’re just letting him adjust himself to the altitude as he needs. He is doing really well with his breathing. We’re only taking him off oxygen in the pool, and he’s doing great! This afternoon as the sun is now coming out, we will venture down to Breckenridge town to stroll through Main street and hopefully enjoy a “fika” (coffee with pastry) in one of the little coffee shops!

Love, Maria.