A Life Without Limitations

Too Much Coffee

I made a mistake and drank an enormous cup of coffee around 9 PM or so. I didn’t pay attention and now it is a few minutes after 1 AM and I am wide awake.  If my gym was open I’d go work out now but that is not an option so I am here at the computer working on a few projects and trying to tweak the blog a bit.

If you pay close attention to things you’ll noticed that I added the PostRank Popular post widget and removed two others. We’ll see what sort of effect it has on things around here. The beauty of blogging and social media is that it is really easy to make changes on the fly.

Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of spending time at my doctor’s office. I managed to obtain a nice eye infection. My right eye looks like someone hit me and it feels a little bit like it too. My daughter told me to wear sunglasses because she says that it freaks her out. If she was a fan of Harry Potter I’d tell her Muggle behind to relax, I am Mad Eye Moody.

A Life Without Limitations

Mad Eye Moody got to spend a big chunk of time with her sick older brother today.  Little man got a spring cold and found himself hanging out with dad today. The two of us made quite the pair, him with a loud cough and me with the swollen eye. So we spent most of the day around the house. Since he wasn’t up for anything too strenuous we spent a lot of time talking about life and assorted odds and ends.

One of the best parts of that conversation was hearing the voice of a ten year-old talk about the future. It is not unique or profound to say that children don’t have the same limitations as adults but it is refreshing and worth mentioning…repeatedly. To paraphrase Emerson we often stand in our own sunshine. I am my own worst critic and probably my own worst enemy.

My son doesn’t worry about what he can’t do because he has no reason to believe that he can’t do anything. Ok, he understands that he can’t fly or use super strength like Superman. But he isn’t convinced that he couldn’t be like Batman. He sees no reason why he can’t have his own utility belt, Batcave and assorted Batman “accessories.” He views the world in terms of possibilities and not impossibilities and that is something that I am really trying to foster in him.

And frankly that is something that I am working on for me too. It has been a frustrating period of time for me and by period of time I mean much longer than a few months. Fact is that I would rather not think of how long I have been fighting some of the current battles I am embroiled in. It doesn’t matter if I am alone or part of a crowd of people who share these challenges because they have gotten old and are wearing me out. There is a price to be paid for these things and I am tired of paying it.

So as we sat there talking today I made a mental note to reframe some of my thoughts and perceptions and reminded myself to make a list of victories. Technically I hate that kind of thing but in this case it was quite useful as it served as a visual reminder that I have made more progress than I had initially thought.

The Handyman in The Shed

While the two of us ate our dinners he asked me if a man had lived in the shed at his grandparent’s house. I laughed. It is a true story and I guess that he had forgotten about it. But as I reflected upon it the story reminded me that life could be much worse. Somewhere in the archives the full story exists, but suffice it to say that for a brief time my parent’s handyman lived in the shed in their backyard. It was a brand new shed and it was with their tacit understanding that he would be there for a few days in between apartments. Suffice it to say that it was a bit longer and that sometimes I tease my younger sisters about how the handyman’s former home could become their new domicile.

My son looked at me midway and asked me to explain why the handyman didn’t just build a new house for himself. It was a reasonable question and I appreciated that he immediately thought of a solution. He didn’t stop to think about all of the things that might prevent it from happening. There was not a moment wasted on whether the handyman could afford tools, materials, permits, insurance and property for the new home. Just a question of why he didn’t build a new place for himself.

It was just one more example of his looking at life without limitations. I love that and hope that I can help him do that forever.

• Saved: Children