Feeling Proud

It's normal to feel pride in one's children's (and grandchildren's) achievements and, I'd also include in that the pride I feel in my sibling's achievements. Part of the pleasure I feel is knowing very well the obstacles and struggles they faced in reaching their goals. But I'm a realistic person. I know that everyone feels proud of family member's achievements and that is why I rarely boast of it. Unless it is to someone who knows our family well.

When I meet people who do talk expansively about what their children (and grandchildren) have achieved I will rarely compete. Except for this one time. I bumped into an old acquaintance and invited her for coffee. She is a lovely woman but, we had barely taken our seats and she is telling me about her granddaughter who is a pilot. Well, why not? I ask if she works for an airline but it turns out she is a helicopter pilot which is very impressive. But, when my friend got to the part where this young woman's father had bought her a helicopter for her birthday I almost lost the power of speech. My friend is a decade older than me and for a moment I wondered if she was living in the land of fantasy. But no. T'was true. (I checked it all out on the internet later).

Well with this on the table what could I offer? That my seven-year-old granddaughter is the lead vocalist in a folk group and debuted (to great acclaim) at a gig in Sligo town that was attended by a great number of leading academics and someone from Vancouver. But I didn't say so. So this was my best shot - that my three girls are great at managing money which, I believe, comes from childhood experience when they were reared in less than affluent circumstances. My friend said this was applicable also to herself.

Ah well. It was great to see her for she hasn't a boring bone in her body.

This makes me proud. My second youngest sister, my granddaughters and my oldest daughter performing at the party to celebrate my youngest sister's Ph.D. There are lots of things that make me proud of my family, almost too many to mention, but I will sneak them in, in other posts.