In sporting events, the cheap tickets are always at the very top of the arena. As an underpaid member of the teacher profession, these are the only seats I ever occupy.
I have learned to accept it, I have learned to not only accept it but embrace it as a metaphor. You see, you can see more from the upper deck, the entire field or court opens up from this vantage point. When you are too close, all you can see is what is right in front of you, what is staring you in the face, and you lose perspective. Coaches know it, that is why they always have assistant coaches in the press box, and also why the press box is there to begin with.
Life is like that too, the closer you are to a situation the less you can see. You have to back away from problems to put it in perspective. Sometimes from a distance what had seemed to be an overwhelming and unavoidable obstacle seems merely like a bump in the road, an inconvenience.
It is easy to get caught up in it though, to feel alone and helpless at times. The trials an tribulations of life are the things we dread, we want to get past them and move on, but the fact is often those moments, those difficult times, are the intense emotional moments when you live most. Sometimes the times when things just roll by, you miss it entirely, taking it for granted and never really appreciating what you have and the special people that surround you.
As I begin my blog, I want it to be about my struggles and about difficulties I have faced, not to whine, but to offer encouragement to others, and to help you see the humor that exists in everything. Many years ago I was plugging along with my eyes locked on my on career, oblivious to everything around me. My wife and I had struggled to get me through graduate school and we had bought a small house in a small town, a dream from my desire to find Mayberry. I suppose I was looking for an idyllic life, and what I found was life with all the good qualities but all the challenges too. Soon afterwards we were raising two special needs children, which proved to be the most difficult and most rewarding times of my life. I look forward to sharing it with you. Thanks for reading.
