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Well, I went to my kids' first parent-teacher conferences today...

This was my first opportunity to see first hand how my stroke has effected my kids where most people see them...at school. My youngest sometimes cries a little. Admittedly the teacher does not know if it is due to me or the situation on the playgroud (very close together, I know). My middle child has picked up an affinity for smiley faces. This is not unusual because she says that some people are naturally good at football, others at soccer, others at softball...she is just good at being happy. Overall both kids at West elementary are very well adjusted and know that they can talk to their teachers if they need to. My oldest, who is a Junior in High School, is doing, by all accounts, great. His schoolword is suffering a bit (B+ instead of all A's). Each teacher said that he is doing very well and SEEMS to be handling things very well. Scholastically, all three children are excelling in school, and I think that school gives them a sort of distraction that they normally would not have. In that sense, it has been really good for them.

I am really proud of all three of my kids, not just because they do well in schoool (although they do), but because they came very close to losing their dad and they seem to have bounced back from that very well. If I had to assess my day on a scale of 1-10 (since I have become very well accustomed to that scale after seeing multiple doctors), I would seriously have to rate it a 10. COULD the kids do better, sure. But ARE they doing their best under the circumstances? I think so. It was a great day to be their dad today.

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