time for some proud dad reporting. ;-)
ethan passed(with flying colors) his latest tae kwon do test last night. he is now up to black stripe on red belt.... next step is black belt. with this latest step he has risen to the same level as his original teacher. he still works with this teacher and a more advanced (5th degree black belt) teacher in a cooperative effort between two schools.
ethan has gained enough skill & respect that he has been trusted for some time now to do work with the younger students.... in a more or less informal manner. beginning in april ethan will officially "go on the payroll" of his original teacher & take over class instruction on monday nights at the ymca. this well earned level of respect, trust & acknowledgement of his accomplishments is very gratifying!
mom & i are very proud of our son!
My brother is amazing.
I'm so proud of him, but I am also so very very jealous and a little mad.
That second part makes me feel like a very small and very horrible person.
Ethan is everything I once thought I was, and now feel like I lost. He is doing everything I did, and he is doing it better. In general right now I feel very inadequete.
Be happy for your brother. You cannot possibly be everything. Life is full of choices and compromises. Every choice you make means there is another that you didn't choose. No one decision or path is better than another because even from the "bad" decisions, you can learn so much. You have to ask yourself if you are happy where you are and if not what you can do about it, however, realize that if you spend more time doing one thing then you lose something else. For example, if you want more money, then you work more, however then you have less time for yourself and your family. Reality is that there is always someone who has accomplised more, makes more money, has more things, who is prettier, who is smarter...etc. It can be depressing but it is also great that the world we live in is so diverse. It seems like you have a wonderful fiance and so many other "little" things that make your life special for you and it is those personal things that no one else has. Sucess and happiness is being happy with who you are and continuously striving to be the best you can be for yourself...not for everyone else's approval.
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