Success, you say?

Since leaving the corporate war zone and living the calm domestic life, I have decided to be more involved in my sons' schools.  It was either that or be a couch potato.  Good thing I chose wisely.

I've helped put up a couple of their school events and I was so darn proud of those tiny achievements.  I never really thought I would.  I was always the type who looked at success as winning big business pitches and raking in the money.  But honestly...I'm realizing now that the real measure of success is seeing happy children thanking me for a job well done.  No monetary value attached.

That sounds so weird of me now, doesn't it?  Have I gone soft?  No, I've gone old and wise, I think.

Just yesterday, I helped out in Kenji's Circle Time.  Alpha was our show-and-tell material.  Kenji who was sat beside me, painfully shy at being put on the spot right in front of his classmates, was actually beaming with pride when the kids cheered at the close of our presentation.  And, I DID enjoy the presentation as well.  It was a far more fulfilling experience presenting to kids than presenting to too snooty clients who think they know everything. 

I was talking about pet care and animal health and Kenji was doing the demos on how to gently play with Alpha and how to properly feed her by hand --and the children watched and listened in total amazement!  Their attention was glued to us!  They clapped when they liked what we said, and laughed when we cracked a joke.  No hiding behind a corporate, poker face.

Right there and then, I knew children make a better audience than adults.  The fulfillment that day was just immeasurable.  It felt good, Kenji felt good, Alpha felt good, and the children and the teachers felt great!  Now that's real success.