3 Rules To The Olympics of Parenting

In the Sydney Olympics there was a man named Eric Moussambani who was from a small and very poor country who entered into the 100m freestyle race with literally all odds against him.   The only objective for himself was to make it to the  Olympics since he did not even qualify but was granted entry due a wild card draw of the Olympic for third world countries.

He had no training or anywhere near the physical ability of a Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte.  He was just doing the best he could.   During his one swim, the heat to advance, he was up against two other competitors.   The gun never shot and the other two swimmers dove into the pool causing a false start leaving Eric the chance to swim the heat on his own.    HE WON!   Not because he was the best or the most trained but because he showed up and completed the task given to him.

This story reminds me of today's quote:  “Looking after a very sick child is (was) the Olympics of parenting.” - Chris Cleave

When Kaleb and I were faced with caring for Kagan and the shocking announcement that he had cancer we were just like Eric Moussambani.   We merely had no choice but to jump in the pool and swim.  Cancer had a false start and we were forced into the Olympics of parenting of quickly learning all that we could to help our son.  

The three things that we did that really made a difference was:

1.  PRAYER!  I don't say this lightly but there really is something like that moment when you drop to your knees and just surrender the outcome to God.  It is surreal and a feeling that I doubt that I will ever have a again the same way.  It was the first time in my life that really there was no other possible solution but to pray to God that I could accept whatever he brought our way.

2.  STUDY!  There is such a wealth of information out in the world to learn about anything.  If your child is sick begin to study like you did for finals. (I was always a last minute cram studier so this worked well in this case.)   Read books, read pamphlets or whatever you can get your hands on.   Don't be discouraged by any negative but consider it the "what not to do" section. 

3.  FAMILY!  Don't let your entire family life change completely.   I think the best decision we made was to keep life as normal as possible for everyone in our family as we could.  Kaleb worked, Kade and Kenadee did school and sports and Kagan managed as much of a normalcy as possible.  Sure he sometimes had to give up things but we kept it as normal as we could.   We also kept our family bound with the same rules, morals and values that we always had and did not let cancer rob our family of what worked.

It is that simple.  After these things all the incredibly difficult things started to fall in place.    I am not saying those things were simple but the platform for getting through it was.

We still have a long journey ahead of us to get to remission and to STAY in remission.  It is going to be months before we can hear those words but we are headed there and that counts.  Just like Eric, we may never be in another Olympic life situation as parents but for now we have completed our trial of at least getting in the water at the right time.