Pre-School Holiday Play

Last night was my son's Holiday Play at his pre-school. Yes, it truly was a "holiday" play because the students celebrated holidays from all over the world. They sang Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza and other songs from across the world. The main sketch was "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and my son got to play Santa Claus. It is was so very cute seeing my four year old son in a "paper" beard picking out his reindeer for the Christmas Eve ride. The children did a great job and I got to take part in the play as the narrator. I truly enjoyed this time and my son's teachers should be complimented because they did a wonderful job with the Holiday Play.

My son has been running a fever for the past two days and we kept him home from school on Tuesday because we wanted him to be well for his Santa Claus debut. He had a fever of 102 degrees and we gave him some Motrin and within a few minutes he was backed to himself and bouncing off the walls. However; after a few hours the fever returned and we gave him some more Motrin which quickly broke the fever. I found this fascinating because he responded so well to the Motrin but my wife and I knew something was not quite right. He had a mild fever this morning and he was telling us about how his right ear hurt him. My wife made an appointment with the pediatrician this afternoon. I was able to take him to the pediatrician's office and within 30 seconds she diagnosed him with a severe ear infection. She said it was the worst ear infection she has seen this year.

What amazes me is my son never really complained about anything. He wasn't eating which was an event in and of itself because he always eats but other than the fever he seemed to be okay. I know if that were me and the pediatrician had said this as well; we both would have been laid up in bed for days and we would have complained the whole time. Children are so remarkable and resilient. The doctor prescribed an anti-biotic and said he should be fine in a few days and if he is not we should call her. We will have to monitor my son closely because I am not sure if I will know if he is better because to me he seemed fine after his first dosage of the medication.

Tomorrow morning is my daughter's Holiday Play "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas". She is playing one of the reindeer. A member in Gamblers Anonymous gave this book to my daughter on Sunday and I read it to her a few days ago. As I read the book she was reciting each line and who in her class had that particular line. I think she forgot only one line and who had had that particular passage. She has 19 other students in her class and she remembered all of their lines. This to me is remarkable. Also as I read the story I actually got a little choked up when I got to the end where all of the Who's in Whoville were singing even though they didn't get any presents underneath the Christmas Tree. I may have read this story 100 times before and seen the cartoon and the movie but I never took the time to fully understand its meaning. Yes, it certainly has more meaning to me this year as opposed to any other year but as long as I have my family I don't care about any presents. The present for me is to be in the presence of my family on Christmas Day and for many years to come.

The perspective I have on life this Holiday season is so much different than in the past. In fact my wife and I were talking about how I went to my daughter's school last year at this time and helped them build gingerbread houses. I honestly had no recollection of doing this last year. My wife even showed me a picture of the three of us and the finished gingerbread house but I still couldn't remember being there. That is what compulsive gambling did to me; I was physically present but not mentally present. I was concerned with so many "things" last year at this time I couldn't even appreciate the fact I was helping my daughter and her first grade class with their gingerbread houses.

To me life is all about family and I lost this fact for the last few years. My eyes have been opened nine and half months ago and not only am I physically present I am mentally present. I intend to maintain this presence one day at time and cherish each moment as it comes.