Who Knew?

Shana Tova! The new year is here and with it a period of deep introspection. What have I done over the past year that I wish I had done better, or perhaps not at all? What do I hope to tackle in the new year?

I was thinking about a friend of ours who shared her college admissions essay with us a few years ago. She had written about how our entrusting her with the care of our son when he was an infant changed her. There she was – a young, teenage girl and we had left her in charge of the safety and happiness of the most important part of our lives.

I can remember how having her sit for our son changed our lives; my husband and I enrolled in a class to study with other adults; we saw movies; we went to the grocery store – together. But if she hadn’t shared her essay with us, I never would have imagined the impact we had had on her.

There are certainly people in my life I think of as having been hugely influential. How many of them have any idea just how deeply I was impacted by our interactions?

Perhaps this is the year to say thank you.