MY ROLE MODELS

Have I ever mentioned how much I admire my kids? One of the things I admire most is their intrepid attitude. If there is something they really want to do, do they sit around twiddling their thumbs (as their mama has been known to do), wondering "What if I'm not very good at it? What will people think?" No, they do not. They just march out there and do it!

When John turned to my son and said "We need you to design a database to collect all the information from about 10,000 calls a day, related to a natural disaster of epic proportions", did he throw up his hands and wail "Are you crazy? I'm just a kid straight out of school!" No he did not. He hunkered down, and got to work.

When my daughter found out this week that she had been laid-off for the second time, even though her bosses had consistently told her she was doing a great job, did she rant and rave like I did? Did she crawl into her bed to wallow in self pity? No, she did not. She pulled out pen and paper, and immediately began to regroup. She told me, "Mom, it was for my own good. I get paid by the project, not by the month, and with the designer that just came back from medical leave, that's five people with seniority over me. Since none of the presentations we have done recently have resulted in actual work, they had to decide whether it was better to keep me hanging on, with no work coming my way, and no way to pay my bills, or cut me loose so that I can apply for unemployment and look for other work." Later, she tells me "This is my opportunity to get away from designing model homes. You know my passion is really green design, and I never could have pursued it if I'd stayed with that company. I'm not sorry I worked for them though, because they did me a huge favor. They pushed me out of my comfort zone - believed in my ability to handle entire projects from start to finish, completely on my own - and now, I believe in it too!"

My kids? They're my heroes. Hopefully, someday, I can grow up to be just like them