Lessons I'm Learning From My Son

We all know that children learn from their parents.
It's humbling to know that parents also learn from their children.
Joey has taught me to reach for the "unattainable" - to say "I think I can" and then see out and do whatever it takes to do just that.
When Joey was back in High School, Snapple was running a promotion whereby you collect their caps and you redeem them for prizes.... baseball caps, t-shirts and the like. Not my Joey. He noticed that for 3,000 caps you could win a ping pong table. Joey set out to do just that - not for himself, mind you - but for the boys' high school (mesivta) building (did I mention that my Joey is also very community minded? I like to think that is something that *he* learned from his parents {wink}). Now bear in mind, that our immediate family, except his grandmother, does not drink Snapple. We all told him it couldn't be done. Joey was not easily deterred. He was sure that if he explained to people that he wanted to do this wonderful thing for his school, people would participate and forfeit their own gratification to donate to the "greater good". And do you know what? HE DID! He actually collected over 3,000 bottle caps (how he got them shipped to the company for redemption is a whole other post.....) and installed a ping pong table in the mesivta building.
Joey has always said he was going to be on a national trivia game show (Jeopardy!, Who Wants to be a Millionaire....). And he set out to do just that, in a very constructive manner. He studied, he applied himself and he took charge and now he's getting to do that too.
Joey's winnings will iy"H go to law school, something I was never quite sure he was all that serious about. I'm learning though........ ;) When Joey sets his mind to something - WATCH OUT!
I like to think Joey succeeds because he believes in himself. I hope he never stops. He's an inspiration.