I've kind of been sitting on this celebration for a couple days. Obviously winning a house was a celebration moment, but I posted that separately because it just didn't seem right for this thread. Winning a house (which we will very likely sell because we need the money) was great, but it brought something else about, and that is what I am celebrating right now.
I moved from California to South Carolina in October 1996. My daughter Nancy was a senior in high school, and I was moving to a tiny town that had nothing to offer her (she had lived in the same home since age 4 months--we lived with my mom and dad after my divorce), so we all felt it was best that she stay there. I really missed her and my whole family, and having my mom die four years later didn't help any. I'll come back to this later.
I called Nancy right after the hockey game/house win Friday night. It was so late that I didn't call my dad because I wasn't sure if he would be up. I told her it was okay for her to tell him. Nancy and I talked Saturday, and what she told me surprised me so much. She said my dad told her that he was really proud of me and that (please don't think I'm saying these things about me--my dad said them) I have worked so hard for so long and have had such faith in God, and that I really deserved this break. There was more, but I can't remember it all (James probably remembers it all word-for-word). I told Nancy (going back to what I said earlier) that I always figured my dad probably thought I had abandoned my family. Sunday, when I talked to my dad, he repeated some of these things to me. I can't tell you how much that touched me. I'm crying now just writing this. I won a house--big deal. My dad is proud of me and doesn't think I'm a loser. That is worth celebrating.
Barbara
, school!
