Everybody Needs to Be a Big Deal Sometime

I've been on vacation.  It was wonderful.

Every year we take our children and grandchildren and go to a beach somewhere.  Where doesn't really matter much.  The fact that we're somewhere together means everything.

Our days were hardly routine yet there was a routine that made it memorable and special.

I usually started my day early with a couple of miles on the Standup Up Paddleboard.  The water is calm, there is no one out, and the workout feels good. I look forward to that time all year long.

I'm in charge of breakfast every morning and the kids all have their Daddy Joe favorites.  (The adults do too.)

From there it is a day of beach, pool, snorkeling, naps, and whatever else we decide to do.  The randomness of it all and the total lack of structure (do what you feel like) is part of what makes it a vacation for us all.

Dinner might be at one of our favorite restaurants but we might cook too.  Doesn't matter.  When everyone jumps in to help cook and clean up, there is something really special about the time together.

On this trip, I ran into a guy from Tennessee that I hadn't met but had heard of.  He said something that struck me oddly.  He said "you're sort of a big deal in physical therapy."

I had never thought of myself in those terms.  I think mostly that comes from being around as long as 

I have and partly because I've stayed in the same place as long as I have (36 years and counting).

But I've got to be honest, it does feel good for somebody to say that.

As I walked away, one thought came to mind--isn't that what everyone wants?  To be sort of a big deal in one place or another?

I hope I made my children feel that way.  I hope each of my grandchildren feel that way.   I want them to know that they're a big deal in my eyes.  I think it is crucial in their development to be a big deal at some time.

Maybe that's a grandparent's role.  If so, I embrace it fully.  Because I know with absolute certainty that they are the smartest, the best looking, the most athletic...just like yours.

Don't all children need that?  And maybe, just maybe, adults do too. 

I've said it before (many times):  I don't see bad kids, but I see too many bad parents.  Parents who mistreat their kids.  Parents whose expectations for their children are just not based in reality.

Parents whose children are taking a path of their own choosing that just might not be what their parents have chosen for them and the parents aren't handling it too well.  Parents who are living vicariously through their children.  Maybe those parents never had a time in their lives when they were "sort of a big deal."

We should get that from a lot of places.  Many times, it's from sports.  That's OK, since sports reward effort and dedication, traits that are basic to human success.

So look around you today.  Who in your world needs acknowledgement that that they're "sort of a big deal?"  Let them know it.

They will be better because of it.