I mean,t hat's where a story like that would normally go. The kind of shit malicious compliance is born of. But it was a personal epiphany instead, something he needed to hear at the time. So, yeah, thanks, shut the fuck up Beethoven. (This one time, don't let it go to your head.) We've all share our fair share of personal revelatory moments that came at just the right time, what would otherwise be the mundane.

My oldest, who definitely doesn't want to be a veterinarian because euthanizing fuzzerses, is currently nursing a suckling baby mouse she found in the basement back to, hopefully, health. She's adorable, petite, and a gawddamn sergeant major in high-school R.O.T.C. (military pre-cadets, in case the acronym doesn't convey meaning outside of the U.S.). Today is wear the uniform day, she had to leave the helpless gray fuzzy thing at home, but first she fed it by hand, wearing her blue-gray skirt and jacket. Somehow, in spite of all my own "hey Beethoven" moments, my own outcastery, my selfishness, this little miracle made herself into on of those non-fakers. Her circle of friends is an island of misfit toys; the bullied, the outcasts; like me, like us. She's their mother, protecting them, nourishing them.

The best thing I learned from my own, somewhat stunted, little father is to find some things worth persevering for, and then never let go of them. Before I was a twinkle in his eye, he'd shellacked a newspaper clipping onto a polished cross-section of tree branch, always to be prominently displayed in his den: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” ― Calvin Coolidge

I just hope that tiny rodent is still sucking air when Meredyth gets home from school.

Seconded, and I'd also like to congratulate you on making the best case for wanting to have kids.

What an incredible piece of text.

It took me a restart to realize that the "she" is referring to "My oldest", not to "a suckling baby mouse"

But yes - a great post. I feel that determination is sometimes oversold, but yes, more often undersold as an important ingredient to success.

I got a nephew in the ROTsee

Not gonna lie, I read that as "moose" and not "mouse" and was really confused at the end when it was referred to as a "little rodent."