3/8/10

Letters of Recommendation

Our world (or should I say, David's world) has been a whirlwind of resumes, letters of recommendation, and interviews. The principal of his school is retiring and he is applying for the position. Not that I'm biased at all, but I think he'd be perfect for the job. A great leader, super intelligent, loves teenagers, and solid believer in public education. He has made it to the final round of interviews and will meet with the superintendent sometime this week. We'd love to hear one way or another if he got the job by the end of this week, but that may be wishful thinking on our part. It could take another week before a decision is made. And if he doesn't get the job, I can tell you with all honesty that he will be content as the Assistant Principal and will still love what he does.

But those letters of recommendation... David deserves every one of them and I am so proud of him. But let me just say that if you're in a career or applying for a job and you get the chance to gather letters where people go on and on about how great you are, consider yourself blessed. There's nothing like that for parenting. In fact, most of the feedback I get is in the way of whining when I say "No" or tears when I tell them we won't buy a giraffe. Parenting does not come with accolades, pats on the back, praise, or recognition. People do not sit down and write letters about your skills, your management, your successes, and your triumphs. Most days parents are lucky to feel like they're on the ball, let alone hear about it.

But all that changed last night. Did you see? Did you watch her? Sandra Bullock won best actress for The Blind Side. And who did she dedicate her Oscar to? "...The moms that take care of the babies and the children no matter where they come from. Those moms and parents never get thanked."

Well. I can't ask for more than that. I love her.

5 comments:

Melodie Monberg said...

I know...I nudged Matt and said "yes, finally Hollywood acknowledges something worth acknowledging!"

Good luck to your hubby...know this road well right now!

Melodie

Mark and Sarah said...

I was a bit teary after he speech. Remember you will get a big reward for all this thankless work :-)

Laura said...

I didn't see the speech, but I will say that going through the adoption process I experienced reading recommendation letters. They were very humbling and encouraging. We had to get 35 letters of recommendation for the program we participated in. We kept a copy of each one!!

cathy said...

Wow, Laura. That is fantastic! We had to get 5 letters, but we never were allowed to see them. They had to be notarized (snort, of course!) and mailed directly to our home study agency. As if they were afraid we would make up imaginary people who would recommend us. I wish we could have seen/kept copies of ours.

Vivi said...

AGREE!

Hope things turn out exactly the way they are supposed to for David's job - sounds like you both have a great attitude about it.

Of course you'll keep us posted!