Against all odds!

I've seen this tree a thousand times! That's not an exaggeration. I live on the same street as this tree - about a mile or two north and either with a glance and sometimes even a nod of appreciation, I have noticed it's odd shape. I've even thought about blogging about it before - with themes like "resilience" or "determination". I've never been the passenger in traffic long enough to capture it - and from this angle it's a little difficult to see - 

what's so perfectly inspiring is that the branches have continued to grow in-spite of power lines running directly above the trunk (and dead center). You could say it' kept growing "against all odds".

I guess the timeliness of this story is that we just brought our 4th son home from Taiwan. Before I frame the relevance of that personal story - let me me share something my youngest said to me last week.

Michael is 12, and was adopted when he was 7. He struggles with language still, (not because he is an English learner, but because of some processing issues). Upon his return from Taiwan less than a week ago (same trip I alluded to above), he had a lot of classwork to catch up on (shall we say his Kindle was more enticing than classwork on the plane).

As I was directing him to several house chores that needed attention, his frustration level with me increased. Finally he said, in the most exasperated tone possible: "mom, you are an obstacle to my homework". My husband Brian pointed out that 'hey, he used an impressive vocabulary word - correctly!'. As I smiled and tried to keep my cool - I reminded Michael that of all the things currently in his life, I was not 'an obstacle'.

Back to our 4th son Edward. He is 13, has never lived with a permanent family with same age siblings, has never flown on a plane, has never .... oh the list could go on!

To say he has a set of power lines clear in his path would be a comparable metaphor. 

As with this tree - the same choice exists...

for Edward,

 for you,

 for me

..... and for everyone. 

Figure a way around your greatest obstacle. Against all odds.... THRIVE! or .... don't!

I was sitting in disposition training this morning - thankful that our county truly is one of the national leaders for implementing disposition hiring for all employees. We are the fourth largest employer in the region and it's not just a sound financial reason - but investing in human and social capital reasons to hire 'great, not just good'. As I was listening to the character traits that make up this "ideal disposition" - again I thought of Edward. Abandoned at birth, shuffled from foster family 1 to 2 to 3. And yet - he possesses 'empathy' and 'compassion'. Even his social worker noted on his last update that he is not the 'typical adoptive child'. If our perception is truly built from the environment we are presented - how did he learn these things? How did he learn traits that children in the most loving and stable environments don't possess.. ....

Sometimes I think we need a formidable line to be drawn - so that we rise to the occasion and thrive in-spite of - against all odds!