I could stop right there and just let that roll around in YOUR heads for a few days and consider it a job well done. However, it reminded me of a Christmas letter I wrote my parents about five years ago, and I found myself really wanting to find it. I did, and I have decided to share it with you.
After a brief preamble, it read as follows:
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My baby boy (now over 6 ft. and so handsome it often catches in my throat) is home after an amazing first semester at college. He has adjusted so well, seems so happy and proclaims so enthusiastically that he has found "his people" at UC Santa Barbara that it occurs to me that this is why we find ourselves here. It would be enough. He did very well on his finals: only knows his English mark so far, but is happy with his "A," especially since it was a course that he HAD to take and about which he had serious and vigorous objections. He is just so happy to be in an environment that assigns grades based on results versus process: to quote, "If I can learn the content by reading the book and just showing up for the final exam, why should they need to check my "homework"? I HATE BUSYWORK!!!" Thus, the anonymity of university suits him just fine.
The Middle Child also finished with outstanding results: A's across the board. It is of some recompense to the parental units that all the practice of nailing her father to the wall via dinner-table debate, argumentation, and plain old fashioned "calling a spade a spade" over the years is beginning to pay off: this is one chick staring straight down the barrel into a future in law. Her three courses this semester were American Law, Criminal Law, and Criminal Investigation: she aced all three. She is so happy with herself, her social life, and the aspect of her future in sight. Again it occurs: perhaps she is the reason we find ourselves here: it would be enough.
K and T arrive on Monday: can't wait. K's good friend, Johannah, who married two years ago January and had her first baby just before Christmas last year, again finds herself happily expecting #2... on July 17th! next summer! She was supposed to be K/T's bridal party but will probably find herself in the delivery suite instead. It does put into relief for me the social arena in which K has evolved. We are going to shop for the bridesmaid and "mother 'o the bride" git-up while she's here. E says she can live with anything that isn't pink, short, or involves puffy sleeves! K is so happy, broke and busy... just like it should be for a 23-year old. If she were our only child and as content as she is, it would be enough.
S just called me from a sales training session he participated in today, on their way to the restaurant for snackies and some responsible social drinking. He sounds so invigorated and up: turns out that I married a truly resilient, humble man. I am delighted that he has apparently firmly wound in the earlier "lesson we needed regarding business partners" experience, ready to move forward. We have learned so much through this wrenching process... I am not sure a person can learn these kinds of lessons without going through the fire. I am grateful for both the lessons, God's provisions of ALL kinds through them, and the man and family I have been given to go through through them with. Is this why we moved here? If so, it would be enough...
So.. .to me. My time 2nd tour in Palm Springs was unexpectedly fabulous. I was assigned, in addition to re-working our COO's speech to suit this particular audience, a young engineer who had been shanghaied into presenting the new "corporate presentation" that I had been working with a team on for several months in preparation for the grand unveiling at these conferences. The first "unveiling" was at the Sales conference by a very experienced and confidently slick sales dude. Two weeks later, Mr... Slick Sales dude was unavailable for the "unveiling" at Round 2 of the conference, entailing over 1000 of the technical customer-facing support engineers (the brains that accompany the sales people for pre- and post-sales support of our tools). My job was to put Mr. Newbie, the replacement, through "presentation charm school." He had never delivered a presentation in front of so many people, on a spot-lighted, raised stage, with teleprompters, etc. The conference organizers were delighted with his performance, and apparently, so was he. Just today he sent me an email asking if I liked smoked salmon: he was happy with the results of my coaching and scripting help as well! Maybe the most fun part was that when I was leaving on Friday night, I left from a different departure gate, and in a beautifully lit atrium in this area, there was a display of gorgeous glass bowls and sculptures: a little gift to me and my Dad,... It was enough.
NYC was a whirl-wind ride: half hour out of JFK, we were rerouted to Chicago due to the snow storm. Ended up staying overnight in Chicago, didn't get to NYC until 2 pm Sunday, headed straight into prep, graphics re-creation, etc. I ended up working until 3 am, up at 6 to get ready for the event, and totally pooped by 3 pm Monday. However, I had one hour to roam the streets of Manhattan before the car came to take us back to the airport, so out I went. Mom, you would have recognized the hot-dog vendor on the street-corner vignette, AND my dip into Ann Taylor (the same one we went into looking for the elusive velour jumpsuit!) I don't know what it is about New York city, but I always find the energy resonates with something deep within... Other interesting moments in my 24-hours there: 3, then 5, then 8!!! security dudes with the little curly-corded earpieces showed up on my floor, the finale of which was the fatigued-fashioned, red & white squared head-scarved poobah who showed up as I was hauling my roller suitcase down the hallway, under SEVERE scrutiny: a still, small voice of personal survival (was that you, Mom?) instructed me NOT to ask who the big-wig under protection was... Never did find out, but grabbed my 2.5 hours of sleep wondering if I was going to wake up to find myself on an "interesting" floor... Interesting and full of energy: for NYC, it is what is expected, and enough.
NYC was a whirl-wind ride: half hour out of JFK, we were rerouted to Chicago due to the snow storm. Ended up staying overnight in Chicago, didn't get to NYC until 2 pm Sunday, headed straight into prep, graphics re-creation, etc. I ended up working until 3 am, up at 6 to get ready for the event, and totally pooped by 3 pm Monday. However, I had one hour to roam the streets of Manhattan before the car came to take us back to the airport, so out I went. Mom, you would have recognized the hot-dog vendor on the street-corner vignette, AND my dip into Ann Taylor (the same one we went into looking for the elusive velour jumpsuit!) I don't know what it is about New York city, but I always find the energy resonates with something deep within... Other interesting moments in my 24-hours there: 3, then 5, then 8!!! security dudes with the little curly-corded earpieces showed up on my floor, the finale of which was the fatigued-fashioned, red & white squared head-scarved poobah who showed up as I was hauling my roller suitcase down the hallway, under SEVERE scrutiny: a still, small voice of personal survival (was that you, Mom?) instructed me NOT to ask who the big-wig under protection was... Never did find out, but grabbed my 2.5 hours of sleep wondering if I was going to wake up to find myself on an "interesting" floor... Interesting and full of energy: for NYC, it is what is expected, and enough.
I had set aside this past hour- .5 to write the California family Christmas letter. I guess the above is what I really wanted to write to the people I really wanted to write to. I will, tomorrow, now, compose the official letter for the dearly held kin and circle of friends... But you should know that this was my true expression of what matters and what is dearly held this season. I have my God who knows and yet loves me more than I know and love myself, and who will preserve me through whatever light and dark shades will paint the upcoming year...I have my own little nest of oft-bickering yet loyal-to-each-other-to-death offspring. I have my own dear husband and friend, and my own cherished nest from which I flew, for which I am grateful beyond words.
I am healthy, optimistic, and grateful.
Enough.
Love and Merry Christmas,
KL
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BTW, my conclusions in the letter have stood the test of time: it has been both enough and a feast.
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BTW, my conclusions in the letter have stood the test of time: it has been both enough and a feast.
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