I love that I can depend on my father—always. I love that he is a planner too. I think people who plan are people you can depend on and I can always depend on my father. What he says is what he will do and he always makes his plans at the consideration of those around him. His dependability and obsession with arriving on time is something I've grown to appreciate over the years. Or course when I was younger I was totally annoyed when arriving twenty minutes early everywhere but take that same concept and apply it to commuting in a big city and you get places on time. You see, my Dad is the kind of person that you want to pick you up at the airport. You can depend on him to be early and to keep in touch with you during your trip so that he is aware of your flight arrival in case things change. And you never ever wait on him to get you. He is always there, either parked outside or waiting at baggage. Knowing that he is my ride eliminates stress with travel. And that is the deal, a dependable person brings less stress to those around them.
I don't really know if people around me would say I'm a dependable person or not. I would like to think that I am and I think in general I am, but I need to improve. I'm not the person who always arrives at work on-the-dot but I think my co-workers can depend on me to be there pretty much on time each day. I think more often than not I don't flake out on events and obligations but I also tend to not make obligations for myself so I don't give myself the opportunity to flake out. Basically I know that I am a person who will flake out if I set myself up. Or as we use to call it in college (with fondness mind you), "getting Jaked". And although I think my intentions are mostly good, I need to stop living on good intentions and become a person more like my father.
As Sunny gets older and her involvements in life grow it is important to me that she sees me as a constant stability in her life. I want her to know that she can depend on me to get her where she needs to be on-time. She can't take herself to ice skating lessons or play dates or whatever it is she will choose to do. I was never late for gymnastics but I always felt sorry for those that were. Coaches punish the late kids. Or being late for school day after day. How awful and what a huge disadvantage you put on your kids, all because of your lack of planning. I don't want to sound rigid here. I envy some spontaneity and hey, I'm spontaneous. I've been known to pack up the car and drive to New Orleans on a whim, just for a weekend on Bourbon Street. Hell, I drove 1,256 miles with a week old baby. But within any spontaneity in my life lies a plan and I hope that my planning helps eliminate chaos and stress for those around me. I'm starting to realize more and more in life that my actions have a domino effect on others' stress levels and the last thing I want to be is a creator of stress, especially in Sunny's life. I guess this is sort of a New Year's resolution for 2010—to be a person who does not indirectly create stress upon others.
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