This week brought two unexpected joys to our house. My husband and I have each been striving to accomplish personal goals for over a year--his professional and mine personal. We had both worked very hard toward these goals and yet were stymied by other people. Finally each of us, at different times, gave in and accepted that what we wanted wasn't going to happen. And after we had both come to terms with the situations and moved on, we ended up getting what each of us wanted all along.
Got a Happy Story is a community gathering every Friday night where we share stories large and small that have put a smile on our face. It is a time to acknowledge the joy and wonder we experience. The Happy Story diary exists as a way to anchor the community in hope and comfort while we do the hard work of taking back our country. Everyone and all sorts of stories and pictures are welcome. May we find joy and strength here.
soberdad began his second career in a town 25 miles south of where we live. He worked there for 17 years making connections in the community and becoming very well known to other professionals. When soberdad was diagnosed with cancer, his new boss transferred him to a different site over an hour away. He's spent the past year and a half learning a new community and making new connections. He has consistently requested to return to his former site but has been blocked in his requests by a colleague with seniority and a boss who is threatened by soberdad's familiarity with the area and the people, and was also concerned about soberdad's productivity at a busy site.
It was in the past month that soberdad let go of the idea to return to the old site and went about trying to find ways to be less stressed over the commute and the slow pace of the site. He came home yesterday, still in shock, and said that the colleague with seniority decided that she wanted the slower paced site so his boss had transferred him, with much grumbling, back to the busy site close to home. So the 2+ hour daily commute is now 45 minutes and he can get to more of soberboy's activities. And he is where he wants to be, in the community he loves, working with people he's known for almost 2 decades. It's the town where we met so it seems like an appropriate gift for our 14th anniversary next week. I'm so happy for him.
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My story is much less important. I started rowing 2 years ago and by last fall I really wanted to be on the competitive team. One advances to that team by invitation only. I worked so hard last year and rowed as much as I could. I subbed in boats for other people, I asked coaches for help correcting my technique, and I drove myself to improve. My last coach was incredibly supportive and wanted to move me up to the competitive team. But other coaches I'd had, who also rowed on the team, said no. It culminated last year with the competitive team needing a sub for their special end-of-the-season row on the Charles River.
My coach suggested me and instead they actually asked a woman from a boathouse in Boston, who was a friend of one woman and unknown to everyone else. That was a clear indication to me that no matter how hard I worked, I would never be allowed in. In a fluke, the rebel boat asked me to sub for them at the last minute. The rebel boat were women who couldn't row at 6am with the competitive team because of child care issues. I was thrilled to row with them and even more thrilled that I was able to keep up with them and not screw up. I was exhilarated afterward and I thought I had proven myself.
So this season I was back to hoping for a spot on the competitive team. I started out the same way I had the previous spring, trying to learn, rowing hard, and subbing whenever I could. My spring coach was not impressed by me. I rowed all season with a broken rigger, which certainly made me look unimpressive. I rounded up women for a boat in the summer where we'd all row hard. Then a boat got damaged and we were split up. The class I ended up in had older people rowing at a very recreational pace so I didn't row hard all summer. By mid summer I had given up any hope for the competitive team and had thought about just subbing in boats for the fall season. But when I went down to the docks on Tuesday the new competitive coach asked me to try out for the team. I was shocked because she's never coached me. She has seen me on the docks a lot but only caught glimpses of me rowing while she was out with one of her classes.
The problem, of course, is that now I don't have the stamina or endurance of the other women who have been rowing intensively 3 days a week. And now soberboy's schedule conflicts with the 6am class. But still, I'm so grateful to be asked and to know that I'm not shut out forever. I'm going to bust my ass this fall and maybe by the end of the month I won't embarrass myself trying out.
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And soberboy had a good week at school and is managing to adapt to the changing classes each period and no recess at the middle school. So all is happy in our home.
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What about you? What happy stories do you have to share with us this week?