By Chris Kovatch

 

August and September have been crazy months for our family.

I decided to take a few weeks off from writing to help free up a little bit of time.

I believe we are just beginning to get a sneak peek at what managing our schedules and the ever-expanding kids’ schedules is going to look like.

On one hand I am excited that Jackson will be driving next year, but on the other hand, it makes me realize that we aren’t getting any younger.

During my time away, I also got into a wreck.

A vehicle rear-ended me at a traffic light on my way home. Luckily the kids weren’t with me and I was traveling solo (which is an infrequent occurrence). Fortunately, aside from some soreness, I am fine. My brand new car (made the first payment the day before the wreck) did have some significant damage. But in the end, it is a car and can be fixed or replaced. So I count myself blessed as things could have been much worse.

This school year has been running very smoothly. It is nice for the children to be back on their respective campuses and a sense of normalcy is returning.

We have also seen an innovative program initiated by OFJH that is geared toward preparing kids for the future by working on team building skills, fostering inclusiveness, and building stronger relationships. I am excited to see what the future holds for this project.

One of my favorite things that I have seen this year is all of my kids building new relationships with people in their classes. It is an amazing thing to see this happen.

I love sitting and talking to Thayer about his day and what he did. Though he feels a 3rd-grade education is sufficient and he doesn’t ‘need’ to attend school, it is awesome seeing him grow in his confidence and interpersonal abilities. He regularly runs through his list of best friends and people he knows.

He told me last week that his ‘squad’ of friends is quite large. It is amazing the vocabulary kids pick up and where they get it from.

What is so refreshing to me is the innocence in his outlook on life. No issues, aside from bedtime, plague him. His cup is always half full. He approaches each day with a smile. I know things will change as he gets older and I want him prepared for that.

But I often ask myself what if I didn’t worry about things. What if I approached each day from a child’s perspective? I believe we would see a nicer and happier world begin to emerge. In all honesty, it is not that hard to be nice. So what if we all tried a little harder? I challenge everyone who reads this to go out of their way to do nice things. Not only will you make someone else’s day, but it will begin to affect you too. Who doesn’t want to be happier?