Friday, November 27, 2015

Post-Thanksgiving Review


I had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my coworker's.  This was my first Thanksgiving ever without my family, but it was still a nice Thanksgiving.  We had a nice southern style Thanksgiving, since my coworker and her husband are also southerners. There was so much food for just the four of us, but that's how southerners are, we always cook too much.  We can't handle the idea that there might not be enough, so we make sure to make extra. For my part I took a corn casserole and a sweet potato soufflé.  I always love the corn casserole, and the sweet potato soufflé was good but a tad bit too sweet.  It wasn't until I got home that I realize why it was so sweet. I'd forgotten to add the cream to it. I'm a pretty good cook, but that's not the first time I've accidentally left out an ingredient. Thankfully this time wasn't disastrous, like the time I made a blackberry cobbler and forgot to add the leavening agent. It was so rubbery and hard you could have patched a tore with it. The sweet potato soufflé would have still been sweet but the cream should have cut down a little on the sweetness. It was still good, in fact, all of the food was delicious. My coworker went out of her way to make a traditional southern Thanksgiving for my first one away from family.

I think the highlight of my day was my coworker's son.  He's only six, but he was so excited to have a guest. I think her son just thinks I'm the greatest thing.  He's so cute.  At one point he just curled up next to me on the couch and he insisted that I sit next to him at dinner. He has lots of energy, just like my niece does.  Also, like my niece he has ADHD, which he takes medicine for. I've known a lot of people with ADHD.  My best friend has ADHD.  He always tells me about his little rabbit brain that jumps from topic to topic. I always love to talk with him because we can go from conversation to conversation so easily (I have a bit of a rabbit brain too). He gets embarrassed by his ADHD, and I understand. He was diagnosed very late in his college years, but he still managed to be very successful.  He's an amazing guy, but I'm a bit off track.

My coworker's son is just a bundle of energy, but he is the sweetest kid. He went outside and took a picture of their house and had his mom text it to me so that I'd know where I was supposed to go. Then he sat by the window waiting for me to arrive.  He was very excited. One thing I've learned from ADHD kids, from my niece to my friend to former students, is that when they have a difficult time with something they get impatient and thus frustrated. My coworker and I were watching her son try do something, and it took him several tries to do it. My coworker said that he was about to get very mad, but I watched and I could tell he was really trying to be good today while I was there.  I could tell that he was doing his best to keep himself under control, which shows just what a good kid he really is. It was very sweet.  I know he was struggling to keep control, but he did because he wanted to do his best to make a good impression.

I was amazed at how well he did, but one thing I've noticed with most people with ADHD is that they are very smart.  Not all of them realize it because they have a hard time concentrating on one thing at a time. They have so much energy and their brain is going in so many different directions. I have to say though, in everyone I have known with ADHD, a little patience is what they really need, and those who don't have ADHD need a lot of energy. If you've ever known someone with ADHD, you know how loving and good-hearted they are.  That might not be true of all people who are ADHD, but it is true of all the ones I've known.

I think that the most important lesson I've learned in life is to have patience and to trust in God. Those two things go hand in hand. Sometimes, there just isn't any need to be in a hurry. Just because I've learned to be patient doesn't mean that I always am. A little patience goes a long way, and you never know how much you can affect someone's life by just being patient with them. So here's my lesson for the day: when you know someone who is ADHD, be patient. Too many people think that ADHD is really just someone being bad, but what's really the problem is that people aren't patient when they need to be. Also, it sometimes has to do with the fact that we don't show enough love when it's really needed and sometimes being patient is the best way to show love.



6 comments:

Susan said...

So happy your first Thanksgiving away from family was a pleasant one. The coworker's son does sound adorable. I love him sending you a picture of the house. And he's perceptive; you really are "the greatest thing." :)

Michael Dodd said...

"Too many people think that [insert almost anything here] is really just someone being bad, but what's really the problem is that people aren't patient when they need to be. Also, it sometimes has to do with the fact that we don't show enough love when it's really needed and sometimes being patient is the best way to show love."

Sometimes being patient is the best way to show love.

Wonderful insight!

JiEL said...

So happy to hear that you enjoyed your day and this cute little one.

Must tell you that I fully understand what this kid is because I was teaching with teens like him.

Also, my ex BF (2009-2012) had to take some ritalin pills because he was hyper-active. Even if he was a «genius» (187 IQ) he often told me how he was feeling sometimes like is brain and body was under huge earthquakes..

I'm sure that your coworker's son will want to see you and that you could be a sort of «super hero» to him...

You deserve it.

naturgesetz said...

It's great that you were able to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, especially on your first Thanksgiving away from home.

As a Yankee, however, I can't help hoping that sometime you'll get a chance to experience a traditional Yankee Thanksgiving dinner. In my family it was salted nuts during the cocktail hour, then roast turkey with bread stuffing (sometimes also a bit of potato stuffing toward the neck), gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pureed squash, (maybe carrots sometimes) (scalloped oysters sometimes), relish plate of celery and green and ripe olives, and for dessert "plum" pudding with foamy sauce and hard sauce, pumpkin pie, mince pie, cheddar cheese. Christmas dinner was the same. That was when I was young and there could be 8-12 people at the table.

By the time it was just mother, big brother, and me, and I was doing all the cooking, there was no potato stuffing, sweet potatoes, carrots, or plum pudding, and oysters and relish plate were only occasional.

A traditional cheese to accompany the pies (at least in my father's family) was sage cheddar. You can get it from Grafton Village Cheese Co.

Well, all that's something for you to look forward to. As for the current business, it's great that you had the day you did, and wonderful that the son was so affectionate toward you.

Amanda said...

I'm happy that you had such a good Thanksgiving! I enjoy new experiences and it's great you have such nice coworkers to help you acclimate. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend.

silvereagle said...

NOW!! Now, at last you can see the path you were given to take to Vermont, via Knoxville and car repair, not on the schedule you had planned, was to lead to a great venue for your life.....NOW! at last, you are finding the reasons for you to be unemployed in Alabama where, in your mind at least, you were secure, family connected, and satisfied to keep in the same ruts, year after year, when the rug was pulled out from under you. NOW!!! You see there was a job that had been hand crafted for your experience, background and training, and with newly acquired fiends working in the same environment...and with the added bonus of a young child who is calling you loud and clear saying "Be my friend. I need you to help me. Please!" And NOW at this Thanksgiving Season you have so much to be thankful for and are so blessed. Bless The Name Of The Lord!!!