We all have a different speed. Be patient! That is the reflection of the day. I am reflecting today on a conversation that I had with my son, Franco this morning. It brought me back to a conversation that I had with him, where it is one of those conversations that actually stays with you forever. I’m sure you have moments like that where there are just certain conversations that have an outcome and an impact in your life that you will never forget that specific place and time. I share with you the conversation and I might have shared this at the beginning of one of my first podcasts. But it’s definitely one that has taught me many lessons. Believe it or not, this was about 3 years ago. Today, as I was reflecting on the conversation I had with my son, I realized that I’m still learning every day. That is the beauty of life. That if you’re open-minded, you have an opportunity to learn, to reflect and reset and reconnect with life. That’s what I did this morning. So three years ago, about three years ago, my son, Franco went through a really hard time in his life. He talks about it openly and he was on social media, many times, talking about it. I’m able to mention it on this podcast because we share. We share our darkness and we share our light. The darkness, at that time, was really deep for my son. He struggled financially. He was struggling when he left a business he had. He was struggling with his marriage. He was struggling with his feelings and inadequate parenting. He ended up having to move with me for 18 months with his family and his 2 dogs. As always, you know, Mom would always be there because I give unconditional love to my children. You always have to figure out a way out to support them as much as you can until they can create the foundation that is going to build a stronger life. That’s exactly what happened with Franco. But during the dark time, we had a conversation one evening having dinner at a restaurant. I remember saying to Franco, “Why can’t you see that you have so much to be grateful for, my God?” I see it. Just even concentrating on the fact that your children are healthy, that you have a wife that is working, a wife that is a beautiful woman in and out that has been totally devoted to you for so many years now and you have me and you have so much support and you can’t see it. He got angry at me and he told me, “Did you forget what your life was like and can you always say that you were grateful for everything you had when all that you could concentrate was on what you didn’t have and I was okay? I really was without words at the moment when he said that and I immediately just got quiet. I decided to really just listen. You are listening to the background in my house in Vermont. I’m still here and as I’m doing this podcast. The motorcycles are so loud. So nice, since we are very authentic with my reflections. I want you to understand where the noises are coming from. But going back to that night, I was extremely without words after he said that and I stopped to reflect on what he said and I stayed very quiet after that. But later on, when days went by, I really reflected on the fact that he was right. That I had forgotten how much work I’ve done and how in my twenties and in my early thirties, I was such a wreck. I was a mess and I was a broken soul just trying to repair, repair and repair. I wasn’t seeing all the things that I was grateful for even then because I was in too much pain to concentrate on what I had. I was concentrating on what I didn’t have and that really put me to a different level of understanding. I became very understanding of my son. I was just there for him in every way, shape or form that he needed me. If it was just a shoulder to cry on, I was there for him. I stopped giving advice. I would only give advice if he was requesting the advice and as I saw him develop into this, you know, amazing man and I thought he was amazing then, but he just now took it to another level. It really brought me to reflect on how we will have a different speed that we drive our life and that needs to be respected. That we need to understand that the speed that I drive my life is not the same speed that someone else is going to drive it. No matter how much you want to speed them up, you are not driving, they are driving. So with love and compassion and love and kindness, we need to find ways to support them and plant seeds. We could, especially when they invite us for advice. Advice is planting seeds that would blossom into trees, that would grow into trees at some point. But you have to let them drive at their speed. That is the reflection of the day. Let’s reflect, reset and reconnect!
