Relationship Reflection

The Special People in my Life

I am blessed to have many great friend and colleagues in my life!  It was hard to choose just a few to talk about.  I thought about the people who are in my life on a daily basis.  These are the ones I communicate with almost every day.  They are the ones I would miss the most if they were no longer in my life.  They are also the ones who have challenged me and helped me learn more about myself.

My Daughters

 Here we are at the Zoo for Wildlights Wonderland.  This is a yearly tradition.  We chose to take this picture with this moose statue to send to my Aunt Linda.  That is one of the things we have most in common; we love the same people!  We have been through a lot together, especially in the past five years, and it has only made us grow closer.  Now that they are grown, they are there for me as much as I am there for them.  We support each other in every aspect of each others lives.  This makes our relationship a partnership. 


My Immediate Family

  My immediate family includes my daughters, my parents, my brother and sister-in-law and my niece and nephew.  This was taken just a few weeks ago at my mom's retirement party.  It is from these very special people that I receive unconditional love.  It doesn't mean we always get along 100% of the time, but we always love each other.  These are the people who are my "first responders"  in time of crisis or of joy.  I feel it is so important to feel loved in order to give love.  This effects me in my career as an early childhood teacher, because I have the privilege to love people for a living.  It also helps me to understand that sometimes people can't act loving because they don't feel loved themselves.

My Co-Teacher

 

This is my co-teacher and I at the Columbus Aeyc Annual Conference.  We are pictured with Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld, who I mentioned in a recent post.  Working together with two other teachers and 10 babies requires that we form a partnership.  It has not been easy.  We have been through some really challenging times that have broken our hearts.  I love her like a sister, but we have had to work very hard at being partners. 

 One of the difficult challenges we faced at the beginning of this school year was the retirement of one of our co-teachers.  Upon reflection, I realize that the change in the staff in our room also changed the dynamics and balance of power of our team.  I am embarrassed to say that she and I had an ugly fight which was really a power struggle.  The good news is, we came out of it stronger than ever.  We have grown to accept each other as we are and to humbly build on each others strengths.

My Favorite Bachelor

 

 This is the man in my life, whom I refer to as "my favorite bachelor". We are posing outside in front of a tree on New Year's Eve in 20 degree weather.  LOL

 We have been seeing each other for six months.  We met on a dating website only to find out our lives are interconnected in numerous ways.  After one month of dating we broke up for a weekend.  It was due to a big misunderstanding.  We have had quite a few of these, but we have learned to work through them and come out laughing.  It is weird dating at our age.  We both have baggage from the past that sometimes gets in the way.  The up side of that is the opportunity to learn about ourselves and each other by discussing disagreements as they come.

After my divorce I decided to find someone new.  My goal for the relationship was that we would bring out the best in each other and build up each others self-esteem and that is what we do.