I was expected, I have another recycled prompt for this New Year’s Eve eve. In fact, it’s the same one that we got one year ago on this same date. My answers are, for the most part, the same as they were last year, with two notable additions, whom I’m surprised, didn’t make the cut last year:
My parents – Mother and The Old Man
I know I talked about my dad a lot on this blog. This February will be 10 years since he passed away. The thing is, he still continues to influence and impact my life to this very day. There are still things I’ll start doing one day and I realize “I do this the same way that dad used to“. This is a sensation that you can’t really fully appreciate in life until after you’ve lost a friend, a parent or a partner.
As for my mom, she was incredibly impressionable of her me and my youth. I’ve gotten older though, I’ve come to realize that there’s probably more things that I DON’T want to do that she did, than there are things that I want to copy. I don’t think that that’s necessarily a bad thing. In a lot of ways, my mother is a reflection of me, or vice versa. But I see things in her that I know exists within myself, and I’m trying to change those things about me. We can learn as much, maybe even more from “negative“ things and we can from the positive ones.
I think I’ve not only added my parents to this list this year because I did not mention that much last year. But also, mom’s health is probably the worst that it’s ever been. I reread last year’s post and I made a passing reference to “mothers declining health”. But as I type this, she’s in the hospital right now with dementia, what we think is pneumonia, and what we’re fairly certain is also a case of sepsis. Apparently, last night at the hospital, she told Fred “I’m going to die tonight“. I know, sometimes that’s the dementia talking. And I know sometimes old people say that every day. But I also know that as humans, we tend to have a moment of clarity just before our death. I’m not trying to be all demon gloom, but it does feel like the end is approaching.
My children
My boys, kid 1 and kid 2. I’m not speaking in hyperbole when I say that they are going to be the legacy that I leave upon this world. And as I’ve said before, and I will continue to say, I do not feel complete unless I have both of them in my life. I was fortunate enough to have both boys in town for the week of Christmas. In fact, they went home this past Friday. But it’s truly a remarkable sensation to watch them grow and mature and see the young men they are turning into. Kid 1 is on the cusp of graduating from high school. And because of that, I see the dynamic of my relationship with him changing, in a good way. He’s looking to me for advice and knowledge and wisdom lead either cannot or chooses not to get from his mother.
That’s for Mid 2, his autism is just something that we continue to work on and live with every day. I see him growing, maturing, and becoming more confident every single day. He’s really turning into quite a cool kid. in a lot of ways, I feel like he’s just getting started,
My students
The very fruit of my labor. I think I find something positive to glean from every interaction in every relationship I have with one of my students. If nothing else, even the rude and obnoxious students have taught me patience and empathy. That’s for my better students, I hope that I am able to help nurture them and cultivate their learning process, and help them push their boundaries and do things they think that they could never accomplish. every day really is something new with them and I’m looking forward to you getting back to teaching traditional English classes next week.
My siblings – Guillaume and Phred 
And no, those really aren’t their real names.
I think, as we get older, and we start coming, the more determines of their own mortality, I think we start to appreciate certain relationships that we’ve always taken for granted. My brother and sister, for better for worse, have always been a part of my life. I was lucky enough to get kid one and kid two to hang out with Guo and his family twice during the holidays. There’s an unspoken thing between Guillaume and I where I think we both realize we’re experiencing the same thing as his parents even though we don’t really talk about it. And as much as I’m a complain about him. He has been there for me in my life when I really, really needed him.
That would argue that I’ve had a closer relationship with Phred than I’ve ever had with Guillaume. I think in part that’s because we are closer in age. I also think the big part of that has to do with the fact that just seems kind of socially detached from us. He’s not the easiest guy in the world to talk to, Fred really took me under her proverbial wing in the after my divorce, and I will always be grateful for her and her circle of friends for letting me in. 
And I can’t forget the haters 
The skeptics. The critics. The doubters. The Nay-sayers. The people who told me I can’t. The people who told me that I’m not good enough. As much turmoil as these people bring into my life, every one of them is a learning experience. the heaters, in their own twisted way, encourage me to be better than they are; and an affect, the motivate me to be better than I am already.
2024 is winding down. I feel like I haven’t been thinking quite as much about the future now as I was at this time last year. But there are a few things on the horizon that I’m not going to get into right now that should make this an interesting year. 
Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts
- Teacher Armor and the Saturday Clearing
- The Extra Day: A Ten-Year Memory
- Of Training Wheels and Christmas Lights
- Charity Starts at Home (And I’m Back in My Childhood One)
- The Muscle of Empathy
The article “Positive Impact of Family, Freshmen, and Foes” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob
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