Success

What is success?

I was brave enough to look through my old tax returns to see if I could measure success by what I’ve made. Being my father’s nerd, I have my W-2s dating back to 2002, the first year I was let loose upon the real world. The numbers have been rounded off to protect the innocent:

2002 – $33k
2003 – $44k (a good start!!!)
2004 - $38k
2005 - $32k
2006 - $29k
2007 - $11k
2008 - $9k
2009 - $21k (more on that later)
2010 – approximately $3k to date

The way I see it, the way the world sees it, those numbers seem to be going in the wrong direction. (Please excuse me for one moment, I have to go change a poopy butt.)

So I am forced to sit and consider why this downward trend exists. Firstly, there is location, location, location. 2002 was in St. Louis and 2003 and part of 2004 was in Chicago. After that, the local cost of living, and thus salary, dropped significantly when we moved to central Illinois. The second culprit, beginning in 2007, is a little more difficult to discover by only staring at the numbers. (Please excuse me again, I have to keep my little girl from pulling all the books off my shelf.)

Why was there such a significant drop from 2006 to 2007. We all know I am a teacher (or those of you who don’t, you do now.) The school year runs through half of two consecutive years. The number from 2007 looks almost as if I only worked half the year.

That’s it! In 2007 . . . (Please excuse me once more, I don’t know what she has now, but it sounds bad . . .) . . . in 2007, Andrew was born. Mollie and I decided we wanted one of us to raise our child, at least for his infant years. So I spent much of the next year and a half at home or working part time as a substitute.

But what about 2009? Why the sudden jump? That was the year I began working at St. Patrick Catholic School. I started as a part-timer, but about 1 month into the year, I was ‘promoted’ to part-time teacher / part time fill-in-principal. That was the year Andrew went to daycare full time. That was before . . . (I’m sorry for the near constant interruption, but Annaliese just pulled my chain mail shirt (see Picture or Post) off the chair and onto her leg.)

Where was I? Right! The Declaration of Independence is important to the basic structure of the American way of life because . . .what? Not where I was? Oops, sorry . . .

That was before Annaliese was born. Like with Andrew, I was again given the task of raising her throughout her infant years, before we all too soon have to relinquish her to daycare. (Allow me a quick break to make sure the paper shredder is off . . . baby fingers are so small!)

So where in all of this mess I call my life is my success? The numbers don’t show it. Is there any? Please afford me the opportunity to tell a little story.

Almost three weeks ago, I tried and teach Anna to stand up. She had been army crawling around the house for the last couple month and more recently, she had begun to pull herself up to a kneeling position. I made a corporate decision that it was time for her to stand. So, like any good father would do, I got her fully interested in a toy, then put it up on our bed, in sight but out of reach. She was quickly kneeling beside the bed, trying to reach the small hedgehog, but it was still too far. With a little help from Daddy, we managed to get her feet beneath her and she was up, smiling broadly as she held the hedgehog close.

I laid her down and, again like any loving father would, I took the toy away and put it back on the bed. She once more made it to about the same place, her tiny legs not yet able to find the right leverage to stand. Daddy helped her once more and the day’s lessons were through.

I expected to revisit the lesson in the next few days, but there wasn’t a need. The seed had been planted and the amazing machine of learning and exploration that is my daughter was on her feet less than 24 hours later.

So there it was, one tiny success amidst my muddled life. I had taught my daughter to stand. Of course, there are a hundred-thousand more successes I’ve seen, experienced and taught over the last three years. As the time nears for both children to spend their waking hours at daycare and as I begin my attempt to re-enter the working world, I only hope that I will not be missing out on all that has made the last three years so great. Now if you’ll excuse me one last time, “Anna, take my phone out of your mouth!”


(Editor's Note: It's come to my attention that the links in recent posts have not been working . . . something about MS Word having an argument with the blogspot website. Both sides have been visiting a counselor and while I cannot promise compete future cooperation, they seem to be working out their differences!)

(Blogspot.com's Note: MS Word thinks it's SO fancy when it makes quotation notes look all crooked, but I don't recognize them as quotation marks. Therefore, I add 'real' quotation marks so the browsers know what Mike is talking about, but your stupid squiggly quotation marks mess everything up! So Mr. Fancypantsdotdoccreator, if you want to . . . (Mike breaks back in) Hey, cut that out! You're not making things any better by berating Mr. Word! Say you're sorry and give him a hug. Now play nice!)