Just Expecting Greatness

Just Expecting Greatness…. That is what I named my Blog three years ago. Little did I know how true that could become for me in just 36 short months.

In the last three years I’ve gone from being a single parent of a fourteen year old girl, living in my house, enjoying lots of closet space and my own bathroom to now parenting a mini-grown up, getting married moving her house into my house, adding two step-dogs and now expecting a baby in just ten weeks. ALL IN THIRTY SIX SHORT MONTHS! But looking back at my very first public blog entry, reading it forward, and reading my personal journals – nothing has changed. I am still expecting greatness and in many ways, I’ve found it.

Our pastor approached me after church yesterday and asked (for sermon research purposes) what am I expecting from the journey we are about to embark on. It made me think about my expectations for myself, for my family, and for this new baby and my expectations still have not changed. I am just expecting greatness.

Greatness for me isn’t fame, money, a fancy job title or an expensive car. It’s not in an overpriced home, overpriced toys and over the limit credit cards.

Greatness for me is found in the other things. Things that others may never even notice. It’s not found in my daughter’s GPA – but in her humanity and desire to make a difference in the lives of others. It’s in her genuine smile and her open mind and heart. It’s in her sincerity and her ability to just be who she is. Even when that means ripped jeans, old converse and a hoodie. It’s in looking at her and knowing that while she may never have a clean room or be a great student, she really is a great person.

It’s looking at my spouse and knowing that every day she goes to her job, she does the best job she can. That she is reliable, honest and caring. That at home, no matter how our day went, at the end of every day I know that she’s brought me closer to the greatness I am trying to achieve in my own life.

For me it’s finding the value in my relationships. It’s trying hard to be a good spouse, mother, daughter and friend… even when I feel like I am failing miserably. It’s working hard to remember that the future doesn’t have to resemble the past. It’s trying to exceed someone’s expectations every day, even if that someone is only me.

For our new journey, the expectations are relatively high. For starters, we are quite literally expecting greatness. We chose the name Max Adric for our son. Max is my grandfather’s name and Adric was Lisa’s grandfather’s middle name. When we chose the name for it's family origins, we had no idea that the name Max means "The Greatest." So he already has a lot to live up to.

We’ve spent a lot of time and money preparing for this baby. We have surrounded ourselves with great family, great friends and great support system to bring him into the best world we can provide for him. I expect to have a beautiful labor and delivery. I expect to have the perfect birth story to tell and I fully expect to lose every ounce of baby weight before I go home from the hospital. Those expectations may be slightly unworthy of reality and we’ll continue to think positively and hope for the best, but once Max is here and in our arms I truly do expect great things to happen.

I expect that I will love him as much as I thought I could love no other child since the birth of my firstborn over seventeen years ago. I expect that we’ll show him how much we love him every single day for the rest of our lives – whether he wants us to or not. I expect that I’ll be better prepared for motherhood this time around. I expect that Allyssa and Lisa will be the perfect big sister and Mom and that Max will be a very happy and much loved baby. I expect that we’ll experience some growing pains as our family expands but will look at our children – one nearly an adult – and know that we are so incredibly blessed to have been given these children, any pain is definitely worth everything we have and will continue to gain.

My expectations for Max as he grows I can only assume will change as he gets older. For now, I expect that he will take on all of the positive traits that his family has to offer and become the little person he is meant to be. I expect that he’ll have Allyssa’s happy, carefree demeanor and positive outlook. I expect him to have Lisa’s sense of humor and charm. As he grows I expect him to have strong values and a sense of responsibility, not only for himself but for the things he can change in his world. I expect him to know how loved he is and to love back with all that he has. I expect him to be everything he was put here to be and more.

I imagine him to expect great things, even if his ideas of greatness don’t always match those of the rest of the world.