Well, I’m happy to report that I’m out of the pit! Thanks for your notes, posts, texts, and phone calls of encouragement and resource suggestions. Although the residential provider denied Madison’s acceptance one final time, I learned in detail about the decision-making factors and feel much savvier about this whole process.

I’d admit it, though, part of me wanted to challenge that decision one more time. But as one friend told me, “Becky, it may be time to listen to the universe on this one. Do you really want her to live in a place where she is not wanted?”

Fair point.

There is a plan for Madison, I am sure of it. We just have to discover it. And, as another friend reminded me, it may be time to let go of the fear and uncertainty (and stay out of the pit!) and let faith and confidence take the lead.

Boy, do I have wise friends!

So our Madison team regrouped and planned our next steps. We must exhaust all residential providers in the state of Maryland. We hope to have answers within the next two weeks. Again, if you have contacts or resources to share, please let me know.

Meanwhile, as they say: Life. Goes. On.

Only hours after Madison’s planning meeting, my son Peter called me with incredible news.

“And, Mom, they want to interview you.”

What? Talk about the spectrum of life!

Twenty-four hours later my sweet sissy Rachel arrived and we began our trek to the west coast to watch Pete compete in the PAC-12 Wrestling Conference championships.

Yes, we arrived two hours late, after a mechanical delay, a reroute due to thunderstorms, and an “imbalance situation,” the flight attendant told us, that held us on the runway until baggage could be unloaded. That last announcement set off a flurry of grumbling among the weary passengers until she explained, “Without unloading this baggage, the plane is at risk for tipping over—backwards.”

Suddenly, no one was complaining.

It’s funny how one simple statement can change your perspective.

My daughter, Brittany, her husband, Brian, and that darling grandbaby, Blakely Faye, met us at the airport and drove us to the hotel. I had no idea if I would get to see Peter that evening since wrestlers need that pre-competition time for physical and mental preparation.

But he came by the hotel, bearing gifts!

Yes, the next day, competition day, was my birthday. To celebrate we had my favorite, red velvet cake! But most important, we had some special family time. No matter what the next day held, we had that time.

From 10 a.m. the next morning until 9:30 p.m. that night, we watched wrestling. Blakely Faye learned how to encourage the ref to give “two points” to her favorite wrestler.

We saw predicted champions win, others lose, and in one dramatic match we watched a wrestler who had only won three matches all season battle hard and earn a PAC-12 championship title (Congrats Zach Nevills!). Peter finished strong, but not as strong as he would have liked.

And the interview? Well, here it is:

All grace. All gratitude.@italian_gallion is the #Pac12Wrestle Scholar-Athlete of the Year and has nothing but gratitude. pic.twitter.com/7vDNOSwd3E

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) February 27, 2017

I couldn’t have captioned it better. Grace and gratitude. Life can be so hard sometimes. And yet when we remind ourselves of the many acts of grace, the “unmerited kindness,” as my father liked to define it, that we receive when others help us as we struggle and are truly grateful for it, life gets better.

Again, with one simple statement, grace and gratitude, there was a tremendous perspective shift.

How about you? Have you experienced unmerited kindness this week? Or have you been able to give it to someone else? Tell me about it. I’d love to know.

I ran across this quote from Henry David Thoreau as I was writing this column:

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

What “success unexpected” awaits? I wonder what acts of unmerited kindness we will experience this week. I’m pondering which ones I should give.

Thanks again, for being there for me last week.

My best–always,

Becky  (Nana B)

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