DOING MY BEST

"Know in your soul that the best you can do is all you can do,

and the best you can do is enough."  S Breathnach"

The four handsome 'stairsteps' are the Beall Boys!

Left to Right: Steven, Patrick, Scott and Jeffrey...

the female would be me, their mother!

My ambition was to be a wife and mother...mission is ongoing; you know a woman's work is never done, or so they say!  The children flew out of the nest some time ago...Michael?  Hmm, he's hanging around...I'm still into the wife business...believe me, I love it.  Doing my best. 

By this time you know I'm not a planner...obviously since we had our four sons in five years I wasn't into 'family planning'.  Michael put it this way, "When Vasca discovered she was expecting baby #3 when baby #2 was...well, a very little babe himself...she threatened to jump off the roof."  Now seriously, you don't believe him...do you???

Hey guys (men)!  Don't lose interest in this post because it begins w/parenting...after all, last time I heard it takes two so read on!

My mother (ah, always the wise one) lectured me...'Okay, you can either lay on the couch and cry all day feeling sorry for yourself or...you can get up and never, ever let anyone feel sorry for you again."  I chose the get-up-and-go...talk about a ball of fire?  I was a wonder woman deluxe...I did any and everything...Suzy Homemaker w/all the trimmings.

Here's a funny for you...health wise I was born a wreck but nobody bothered to tell me I wasn't supposed to become pregnant; if I did I surely wouldn't deliver and it would be a disaster for my health.  Guess what?  Since I was uninformed I just smiled and went on having boys!  How good is that, huh?  I love it.

I've some questionable characteristics...besides being a poor planner, I'm a procrastinator but was forced to make changes early on.  M's career of choice kept him away from home much of the time and lil' ole me had to take charge...planning ahead and doing things I really hated doing.  I 'forced' myself to do the most dreaded first, etc...so I survived the year long separations!  Yucky years, but I was trying!

Well, the characteristic that almost sank me was...I love to spend money...real thing or plastic...whatever!  M is conservative (long Scottish background)...I sort of got...well, carried away one year while he was away.  You know don't you 'while the cat's away, the mice will play'...yeah, I played and M held that against me for waaaayyyyy too long!  Finally, he forgave and I hope he's forgotten.  These days I'm a more foxy financier! 

Truly the positives far outweighed the negatives those years!  M & I did our best and wow...what a super ride we gave those Beall Boys!  Mix a lot of Boomer Sooner...Yorktown...Greek salad w/lots of garlic...old Kentucky home plus Der Weinersnitzle...well, it made for some well-rounded little Americans. 

Those guys grew into four wonderful Christian men; M and I think we've done a pretty fair job!   Parenting takes more than a lot of hard work...good times, bad times...heartbreak...joy!  Me?  I wish I would've/could've given each son more one-on-one time; there simply didn't seem to be enough time but I did the best I could do, the best I knew how to do.

Being a wife?  Aah, okay...I'm tolerable...what about M being a husband?  Believe me, we both work at it...24/7.  We never let up and we're doing our best, the best we know how to do.

Here's the heart of the matter...we treat each other and our children like we want to be treated.  I'm really into love; so's Michael and it makes for contentment, happiness...ever so many pluses!

I learned the hard way because there were my heartbreaking times when I failed everyone...so foolishly.  But...here's one important change in my life, "I know in my soul that the best I can do is all I can do.  And the best I can do is enough." 

God has so blest my life; He continues blessing me and I thank Him for it. 

And you know what?  I'm doing my best and that's enough.  How 'bout you? 

From my heart...to yours