I Wish You Enough

My "bloggy" friend over at Kidz.org posted this the other day, and I wanted to put in on my blog. I really liked it.

I Wish You Enough
Author Unknown

Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged, and the mother said, "I love you, and I wish you enough."

The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom."

They kissed, and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy, but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it
would be forever?"

"Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?"

"I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead, and the reality is - her next trip back will be for my funeral," she said.

"When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?"

She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone." She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and she smiled even more. "When we said, 'I wish you
enough,' we wanted the other person to have a life filled with just enough
good things to sustain them."

Then, turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday this week was indeed a snow day for us here in the great north. The call came early at 5am that we would have the day off. It actually worked out a little for my family this time because Finley was really sick and still had a fever. So I would have been home with her anyway. She laid on the couch almost the whole day. She had a terrible cough and runny nose and looked at miserable as she probably felt. Here is a picture of my sad baby.



Mat went to work on Wednesday and emailed and said that he can see why the schools had canceled – the roads were a mess. So we didn't go anywhere. Dave, our neighbor plowed our driveway AND our shared driveway. Yeah – he came all the way up to our house. We are going to owe him a big thank you at the end of the winter. The snow only ever got a few inches deep, but then the freezing rain started, and then plain old rain. And it rained for most of the day. This would have been okay EXCEPT that it was 15 degrees overnight.

Thursday: From my story above, can you guess what happened to our driveway? Yeah. It wasn't pretty. But, since Mat wasn't hurt – here is a funny story. Mat went out in the morning to salt the driveway. He took one step and fell on his butt. He then tried to get up, but couldn't and slid on his hands and knees all the way down our driveway. I wish I had my video camera out for moments like this. He used two bags full of salt and it was STILL iffy if I was going to get out that morning to go to work. I had to put the car in the lowest gear and keep one tire in the yard (which was full of snow still) to get down safely. Fun times. Mat stayed home with Finley this day – she still wasn't well enough to go to school. Poor baby. She did a lot of sitting around on this day as well. Still had a slight fever. I am glad Mat was able to stay home with her. She needed one more day of rest.

Friday: Finley had slept really well over night and got up in good spirits and fever free. Her cough is still the same and her nose still runny, but we sent her back to school. I know – so mean. But she was fine. School said she was okay there. Friday was a fun day for me at work. The staff all got free pizza for some reason AND it was a dress down day. I got to eat with all the 3rd and 4th grade teachers and our principal. It was so fun! AND, I didn't get called away even once. I got to chat and we had so much fun and the pizza was really yummy. All the staff was excited about the chance to eat together – it never happens.

Saturday – no basketball! We were happy only because it meant not hurrying to get ready and get out the door. This morning Mat took Arlington outside to play in the snow while he got some work done. She loves to sled ride. Cainan is now coughing and Finley is still coughing and sneezing, so we stayed inside. I painted the back wall of our living room and started the hallway and stairs. The hallway and stairs made the biggest transition because we covered tons of dirt, marks, stains, and who knows what else that was left by the previous owners. They weren't really into painting or maintenance of this house, so the paint makes a big difference. I love my house and plan on taking really good care of it. It makes me sad when people don't care for their biggest investment. Anyway, it looks much better. I ran out of paint, so I will have to finish tomorrow.

Saturday was also celebrated Chinese New Year in our house. We put out our few decorations and ordered some yummy Chinese food (did you think I was going to cook it??? You know me better than that) and had a little family party. We ordered Cainan some Hunan beef to eat since he is from the Hunan Providence. He loves the spicy food! I took some pictures and put them below. So Cainan is from Chenzhou (Chen jow) - in case you were interested. That is where his orphanage was. When Mat traveled to China he and Aunt Betty stayed (and picked up) Cainan in Changsha which is the capital of Hunan. Also, Cainan was found in Dongta Park - on a park bench by a stranger. The gentleman who saved our little boy and took him to the orphanage - his name was Tao. Cainan original name (and now his middle name) is JiTao. The orphanage nanny's called him Tao Tao. His last name while he was in China was Chen (after CHENzhou - where he lives - all kids in the orphanages had the same last names). We still have Cainan's clothes he was found in. There wasn't a note with him, but from what they could tell, he was 3 days old when they found him. He only weighed 5 1/2 pounds. And remember - even when we brought him home at 14 months, his cleft lip and palate were unrepaired, so he was always a little tiny thing. I have a picture of the day Cainan was brought to the orphanage. I will try and scan it and post it sometime. Just a little piece of Cainan history. And look at him now!!


No real stories from work this week. One little 2nd grade girl came in and said that her friend had accidentally dropped a book on her eye. I asked how that happened and she didn't know. I asked her if she was lying/sitting on the ground and she said no. So.....a mystery unless this girl was 9 feet tall.

Okay – so I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend! Tomorrow is the Super Bowl and we will all be in our Steeler clothes! Go STEELERS! They better win and Big Ben better no blow it for them. We have our snacks and will all be sitting around watching the game!!! See you Tuesday!