Secret Subject Swap August Edition

Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week, 14 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

My prompt was submitted by Crumpets and Bollocks (link in the list below) and is: what is your proudest moment?

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Asking me to pick my proudest moment is like asking me to pick an all time favorite song. There are too many from all aspects of my life just as there are songs from every genre I listen to for me to be able to pick just one. On any given day, to be quite honest, it would be nearly impossible for me to even be able to pick a Top Ten favorite songs of all time.

Same for Top Ten albums.

Same for bands.

Music is my therapy, my salvation some days, my release, my love, my oxygen, my comfort food. And, in a way, the same can be said for my proud moments. With a life like mine (and like so many others) full of hardships, trauma, and struggles, there have been times when my proud moments were all I had to show for a life well-lived, for making the best of what I’ve had despite the troubles and the trials, for living in spite of, despite of, and instead of. I realized a long time ago that pride and humbleness are not mutually exclusive qualities. I can have one and still be the other. I can be proud of how far I've come yet be humbled by how much further I have to go. Relishing those proud moments whenever they may happen, letting them envelope me in a little warmth when things were at their worst has gotten me through some rough days.

I’m proud that I’ve made it through, proud that I’ve yet to buckle, proud of every A I’ve earned, every sacrifice I’ve made, and of the growth I’ve undergone in the last few years. I’ve been proud every time I’ve used my voice to speak up about what I’ve gone through or about subjects I feel strongly about so that maybe I can make a difference. I’m proud that I’m not afraid to get loud about things that matter to me.

I was proud the moment I saw my beautiful son, the first time he smiled, the first step he took, when I heard his first word followed shortly by dozens of others, at all his school accomplishments, and his unending ability to amaze me with his smartassery and intelligence like the time he told me when he was 3 not to “antagonize” him about his ABCs. Watching him become his own person has been a magical journey of pride that has left me fulfilled in ways that nothing else even comes close to.

I’m proud of his geekiness (inspired, perhaps, by my own)…the look on his face the first time he heard the words “Luke, I am your father” is something I hope I never forget. His love of all things Mario Brothers, his
obsession with science, Ghostbusters fandom, and bookwormishness are all points of pride swelling from my 8-bit heart, and every time he can hold his own in a geek conversation, that heart threatens to burst into balls of pixelated light like a defeated Mega Man boss.

And then there are the moments that prove just how awesome a human being I’m raising, the ones that show he’s listening and paying attention even when I feel like he never hears a word that isn’t video game related. If pressed to choose, it would likely be these that are my proudest, my favorites. The time he told my nephew that Christmas isn’t about the presents; it’s about family was the greatest Christmas gift of all time. Overhearing him tell someone not to call something “gay” or hearing from my mom that the kid scolded her for calling something “retarded” make me want to dance a wee little jig and squeal with glee. He’s paying attention, and it lets me know that I’ve instilled in this kid the makings of an extraordinary human being. I’ve planted the seeds and am watching them grow. And just like a gardener bursting with pride and joy at the sign of the year’s first tomatoes deepening to that lovely shade of red, I am over-the-moon at what I see in that boy every day.

Thanks for reading! I hope you’ll check out the rest of the bloggers who joined in today and keep a look out for the prompt I submitted. It’s a good one if I do say so myself. (ha).

http://www.BakingInATornado.com Baking In A Tornado

http://themomisodes.com The Momisodes

http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/ Spatulas on Parade

http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/ Confessions of a part-time working mom

http://www.JuiceboxConfession.com Juicebox Confession

http://www.eviljoyspeaks.wordpress.com Evil Joy Speaks

http://sparklyjenn.blogspot.com/ Sparkly Poetic Weirdo

http://followmehome.shellybean.com Follow me home . . .

http://www.someoneelsesgenius.com Someone Else’s Genius

http://www.crumpetsandbollocks.com Crumpets and Bollocks

http://stacysewsandschools.blogspot.com/ Stacy Sews and Schools

http://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com The Bergham’s Life Chronicles

http://dinoheromommy.com/ Dinosaur Superhero Mommy