Relationship Reflection

Relationships and partnerships are important to me because the people I have the closest relationships with are my “mirror”. They reflect me back to me! They love me unconditionally and allow me to learn to love them unconditionally as well. My close relationships sharpen me, challenge me, tell me to keep plugging along or when to let go of something I have been dealing with. They give meaning to my life and challenge me to be a better person. The people that are the most important in my life are my husband, Dan; my two daughters, Brianne and Tessa; my sister, Barb, and my three dear friends, Suzanne, Deb and Sue. The positive aspect of my relationships with my two daughters and my sister is that they are family and they are always there for me when I need them. I am there for them as well and we all count on each other for various types of support. My marriage to Dan is positive in that we are both going the same direction in life. This is an aspect of our relationship that we have shared for the last twenty-five years. We both have goals individually and as a couple. We each support each other in those goals and encourage each other when the chips are down. Some of the time what has helped us maintain our relationship is the sheer longevity and shared history we have. Other time’s it’s that our relationship is strong and growing. Sometimes it’s somewhere in between. We lean on each other, in a healthy way, and we are there for each other when it counts.

My relationships with my female friends is a positive driving force in my life because when I am with one of them I am with someone who understands what it’s like to be a woman with massive responsibilities and that sometimes our dreams get buried under those responsibilities. When I am with them I can be silly and dissolve into delightful laughter that is hysterical to us and it leads to a good belly laugh relieves a lot of life’s stress. When I am with them I can share my concerns and be a shoulder to them when they have concerns of their own. The factors that contributed to developing and maintaining these relationships is a desire by me and by them to have closely bonded female friendships so that we may enjoy the benefits listed above.

A challenge that I have had in developing and maintaining these relationships is that it can be hard to schedule times to get together with my friends due to their schedules or the physical distance between us. One of my closest friends, Suzanne lives a day’s drive away from me. The challenge with maintaining relationships with family and my spouse is probably the same thing that makes it wonderful…familiarity. I am so familiar with them that I let my hair down with them and am not always on my best behavior! They see me at my worst, which I try not to let happen too often, but it does now and then.

I see my marriage as a partnership; one of the very best kinds of partnerships. I love this person and we are both invested in each other and both stand to gain if things go well and lose if they go poorly. We are on the same “team”!

I believe that my experience with relationships and partnerships will make me a knowledgeable and empathetic early childhood professional. Hopefully I can benefit from the victories and the mistakes I have made in my personal relationships and that in turn will make me a better early childhood professional.