What I Learned in March

How often do you look back on your month and consider what you learned before you plunge forward into the next one?

I admit, I haven’t done that very often (unless you count the family budget that I can’t avoid). Using my bullet journal has made reflection a lot easier, though, so I thought I’d share with you a few things I learned this month – some funny, some serious, but all valuable to me.

1. It’s rarely too late to say “I’m sorry.”

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post asking where all the mea culpas have gone, inspired by an incident in a parking lot. I was upset that a driver didn’t apologize when I told her that she shouldn’t have been blocking the disability space, and wondered if I would have the guts to look her in the eye when I saw her again after being not-so-nice. Well, I found out at Sarah Kate’s recent show choir performance.

The lady I had the altercation with walked past me and I tried a tentative smile, which she returned, but she did more than that – she came over to me and apologized. She told me how upset the incident had made her and how she had asked a friend with a child who is disabled how she could make it right. Her friend told her simply to say “I’m sorry” … and she did. I said I was sorry, too, and cried like a baby.

2. Sometimes being wacky in t-ball pays off.

At a recent game, after being tagged out by the shortstop earlier while running from second base to third, Nathan opted to just stay put on second base when the shortstop snagged another one. The problem with his plan is that the first base runner had to run to second. When he arrived, Nathan was still standing safely on second. Meanwhile, the shortstop didn’t see anyone running, so he turned around and threw the ball back to the pitcher; at the same time, Nathan started running to third and none of the players noticed. He made it safely to third on what should have been a guaranteed out.

3. Quail hunting is nothing like I thought it would be.

You can hunt either wild quail or pen-raised quail, and when Mr. Andi and I went hunting, we went the pen-raised route. We paid for twenty quail which the quail farm took and released for us, then he and Gabi went to hunt them and I followed along with my camera. It seemed a little unfair to the quail, but I rolled with it because Mr. Andi REALLY wanted me to go.

Y’all. Those quail are hard to find. They can hide just about anywhere – practically under your feet, even – without you knowing. We had a dog that was bred to hunt them and still only ended up finding fourteen or so of the twenty. Even when you find them, getting them to fly so you can shoot them is a challenge – they aren’t stupid. I see now why every hunter Mr. Andi knows invites him to come along and bring Gabi.

4. It is possible to record an amazing cover of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” using an accordion, banjo, spoons, and an anvil.

Mr. Andi introduced me to the musical genre of bluegrass covers of classic rock songs last weekend and we watched YouTube videos for probably an hour. My favorite was the aforementioned “Thunderstruck” by Steve ’n’ Seagulls – I loved it so much I’ve embedded it below. Please, please, please take four minutes out of your day to watch it. Also amazing? Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” tribute by Iron Horse.

5. I’m still burying my dreams.

I’ve said many times that one of the toughest parts of having a child with special needs is accepting the death of dreams you had for them, and that it took me until Sarah Kate was about four to really “get” that I needed to let those dreams ago and replace them with new ones. What I haven’t said is that sometimes you have to bury those new ones, too.

Nathan does well in school, as I’d hoped, but he’s wired differently, which I didn’t always understand, even though I knew he had intellectual disability. Sarah Kate hasn’t fully regained all that she could do this time three years ago, before the growth spurt that led to her surgery, and had Botox again this week. I expected things to be different by now; they aren’t and likely won’t be. It’s all okay, but it requires another adjustment to my dreams.

6. Some books are more enjoyable on Audible than in print, but some aren’t.

We started a trial of Audible several weeks ago and I picked Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale as my first audiobook (you get two books free with a 30-day trial membership – click this link to try it out). I was enjoying it, but about 40% or so in I ditched it and started the Kindle version instead (I bought it a few months back but hadn’t read it yet). I blew through the final 60%-ish in a day when the first 40%-ish had taken me a week and a half. I read really fast so while the audiobook was good (and I used the option to speed up the reading), I was just too impatient to wait to find out what was going to happen next.

I tried Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice next. I’d read Pride and Prejudice before and liked it, although I didn’t LOVE it like I thought I would. I’m just a few chapters away from finishing the audiobook now and having an English accent read it to me has added a surprising level of enjoyment – it feels more authentic, for one, but I also realize now that I missed a lot of subtle humor in my first reading that really comes through in the audio version.

Now it’s your turn to tell me – what did you learn in March?