How Do You Spell Success?

Yesterday D'Ann had a great post about chasing rainbows (and dreams) and giving yourself some tough-love in the process.

Yesterday was also bebe's first day of Kindergarten. She awoke at 6:40, ready to run off to school...and was a little disappointed that she had to 1) eat breakfast 2) brush her teeth 3) get dressed and then 4) *wait* for the bus to arrive before she could leave. And when it did arrive, she gave us a backward wave and stomp-jumped up the steps, introduced herself to the driver and hollered, 'See ya later' in our general direction.

I was equal parts excited that we've raised such a well-adjusted girl that there were no first-day-tears and depressed that she didn't want just one more hug.

But I digress.

Once she was on the bus, RadioMan and I celebrated by going to a grown-up lunch (Chinese food, bebe hates it) and having grown up conversations about how much she's grown up in the past 5 years. And when she got off the bus, our jabbering, giggling girl couldn't stop telling us about school (she made a friend!) and lunch (you packed me PB&J, Mom, my favorite!) and the bathroom/hall pass they have to use when they leave the room (and, it's *big* Momma, just like the big kids use) and how nice the bus driver was (do you think she has kids, Momma?) and how she's going to learn to read (it's about time, don't you think, Momma?) and how she is never, ever, ever going to let her name go below the green light on the Behavior Tree (because Green is *Good*, Momma!) but she'd like to see if she can reach pink at some point (because no color is better than pink on the Behaving Tree, Momma). And as she wound down from her day, she tiredly climbed up the ladder to her bed and stretched and said, "everyday will be like this one, won't it Momma? Because I'm in Kindergarten now."

And I thought to myself, no, not every day will be this sweet, because every day we face challenges. But, those challenges also offer the possibility of this day, especially if we focus on the fortune from my lunch cookie on this most important day. We find success when we tell ourselves we can.

She learned to ride her bike because we encouraged her to keep trying. She soaks up knowledge like a sponge because she knows even if she doesn't get it the first time, she'll get where she wants to go if she just keeps trying. She had a great first day in school because we told her she could.

We don't say, 'I can't', in our family. We say instead, 'I'll try again.' Because success does come from the times we reach out, try again and say to ourselves, 'Yes, I can.'