Birthday Thanks

It's been a couple of weeks since the last thankfulness post, and high time to celebrate them.

The spring semester's nearly wound all the way down, and I was blessed with tutoring over 75 hours, already exceeding last year's total and more than halfway to my goal of 150 for the year. One student passed his class with inches to spare, and another boosted her grade from the D range to the B range. This summer and fall I'll have more time on my hands to focus on building new bridges and enjoying the adventure of being my own boss.

Maybe the best measure of the small but mighty band of people who befriended me at State Farm during my career is attendance at my plays or basketball games: Tina Bell, Gloria Johnson, Hannah Esker, Landon Meece, Sheila Melzer, Rao Duvvuri, Shyam Lakshmin, Katy MacMann, Tyson Mohr, Shaun Cashmer, Mickey Wright, Kitty Coulon, Paulette Cocco (and probably another person or two slipping my mind at the moment). Or people like Kim Stephan and the Life Tax Department who celebrated my 30th birthday in style after I'd been working there for less than a year. The biggest gesture came from Rusty Schopp, who drove four hours round-trip to my dad's wake in the suburbs. The nine years that I worked with him and Life Tax were the most inspiring of my career. State Farm was a financial blessing and a source of rich personal growth too.

Meanwhile, in an ironic twist, Jack received an offer as a trainee salesman for Bankers Life Insurance Company. After 50 more hours he'll be out protecting the people of Santa Monica with life insurance and annuity products.

The Spelling Bee entertained another 700 people last weekend (a handful of them were entertained multiple times!). Three of my tutoring students showed up with their families: Brock, Jordan, and Doug. So did Troy, Dona and Lane. And Darren and Heather. On Sunday I finally felt like I performed a perfect show, free from kidney stones and...

...oh, it has been a while since I blogged thanks, hasn't it...

While I'm most decidedly NOT thankful for kidney stones, I do appreciate that God made them painless enough to enable me to muster through the show two Sundays ago, after the attack began an hour before curtain. The PromptCare doctor diagnosed me as having passed it, so for now I'll trust that. I missed Dena's mom's Mother's Day celebration, but...

...which reminds me. I'm thankful for both of my moms. The one who just assumed ownership of a business at age [deleted, for reasons that need no explanation], and the one who literally made me who I am today (and is a fabulous Domo card game player). She was my biggest cheerleader for this next phase of life. It was energizing.

I auditioned for the musical Aida on Sunday night, which went well. When you give your best effort, you put it in God's hands as to what the result will be after that. So I wait, and prepare for callbacks. Several of my Spelling Bee friends cheered me on. I'm lucky to have them.

Lastly, the daily present of Dena. She kept a stiff upper lip through a skidful fall at a charity race, kept a supportive smile throughout this last exciting week, and came to two Spelling Bees. Whatever birthday present she has for me isn't nearly as important as the memories of sitting on the couch watching an inspirational movie, munching on snacks, loving life together.