Helping with Homework

Yesterday and today I had the distinct pleasure of helping my daughter with her math homework. She is in the fourth grade and she is studying fractions along with percentages. Math up until algebra and geometry was my strong suit. I had such a difficult time with both algebra and geometry more so geometry. I have never been a “spatial” person and when I took geometry in my Junior year of high school (I think my daughter will be studying this next year when she enters the fifth grade!!) I had to drop the class which was the one and only class I ever dropped in high school. I had to drop it because I was doing so poorly. I did take the class in my Senior year and miraculously (it really wasn’t a miracle more like cheating!!) I received an A for the class. Anyhow I have always enjoyed numbers along with formulas and fractions have been a strong suit of mine.

I spent a long time on the telephone with my daughter both today and yesterday but she seemed to grasp the concepts fairly quickly. I did notice a change in my “assisting” style with my daughter. I did help my daughter prior to my departure and I remember giving her the answers more then actually helping her figure out the problems. I think this was due to the fact that I couldn’t concentrate for long periods of time; however; now I do more instructing then just giving the answers. I had a wonderful time on the telephone and my daughter said it best today, “next school year I won’t have to call you for help because we will be together.” Yes, that does sum it up and I can’t wait to sit with her at the kitchen table helping her with her homework.

I not only helped my daughter with her homework but we had a wonderful conversation as well. She informed me that her favorite subject is writing which is a far cry when she first started writing back in the first grade. We had such a difficult time with her back then as she was very resistant towards writing. However; now she loves writing and has maintained a journal for a number of years. She also told me she wanted to be an “author” when she grows up. (Maybe she will write the “book”???) This is another departure from her wanting to be a singer and a skater when she grows up. Yes, my daughter is growing up so quickly and maturing very nicely. I have been beyond blessed with an incredible family and in less then two months we will be altogether as a family.

I am so happy to help my daughter with her homework and I think my wife is elated as well since some of the burden is falling off of her shoulders. I look forward to relieving my wife of this burden when we reunite as a family. My wife has done an exceptional job in the past two years keeping everything together and more importantly giving our children a loving, caring and consistent environment. I am eternally grateful for my wife.

The days continue to blur on by as Wednesday has turned into Thursday so quickly. Work is moving along and there is an undercurrent in the office that I haven’t felt since I started. This is a positive undercurrent even though things are still unsettled. I feel positive momentum and maybe my boss’s practice of “The Secret” is starting to come to fruition. I do believe in this method and I do think that the better “Secret” is Dr. Wayne Dyer’s “The Power of Intention.” They are both the “law of attraction” and I certainly believe “like attracts like” in both the positive and negative sense.

I do feel that positive sense of being flowing through the office and maybe this is happening due to some changes that are taking place. These are interesting changes as a few people are leaving the business to pursue other interest but it is all for the best. One of these people is leaving based on my advice and I will miss this person because they do add to my day in so many different ways. I do believe this is all for the best and what lies ahead is unknown to me but as long as I stay focused in a positive recovery frame of mind everything will be wonderful. It already is wonderful and it is so interesting because if the business wasn’t in such financial strife I wouldn’t be in this position so there is another good point of everything happening for a reason.

I had to get up extra early this morning to get my workout in and since I was at the gym extra early I had an extra long workout. Today was my intense running day and this was the last longer run with intensity before the marathon on June 1st. I have said this many times before but it does bear repeating running is about 85% mental and 15% physical. I implemented the “mind over matter” running style this morning and amazingly I finished all 10 miles in the required time. I wasn’t feeling it early on but after that magically 5 mile mark it truly was all down hill from there. My shins do have some soreness and this soreness seems more permanent then usual. I do attribute this to the intensity of my workouts and lack of rest in between runs.

This is the first time I have trained for a marathon using a dedicated training program. In marathons past I just sort of “winged it” but for the most part I have stayed true to the running program. Also, in marathons past I would only run 2 or 3 times a week whereas now I am running 4 or 5 times a week. It will be interesting to see how the marathon goes and I am shooting for a personal best time. My personal best time was the Las Vegas Marathon where I completed the 26.2 mile course in 3 hours and 35 minutes.

That was a “perfect” run for me even though the temperatures were in the 30’s and 40’s with winds of 40 miles per hour. The first half of that marathon was dead into the wind and thankfully the last half was with the wind at my back which makes a huge difference. I can vividly remember rounding a corner and have the wind almost knock me over. I doubt I will face those types of conditions in San Diego and hopefully the conditions will be ideal. Whatever the conditions I am so happy to be able to run in the marathon and even though my family is 3,000 miles away I will have a smile on my face the entire way.

I made my way into work and had a very good day. I not only spoke with my daughter and the rest of my family I spoke with a very good friend. This friend is planning another golf outing in June and has made a very generous offer for me to attend. We used to take these golf outings “before” it all happened for me and my friend is planning another one just like old times. I have always enjoyed these outings and we have played some very good if not great golf courses over the years. I do look forward to fantastic time when we do finally tee it up next month.