Cole is a college freshman and this is his TED talk project for his English class. I love his topic about learning to be practical and celebrating the little wins. Cole talks about how it seemed that his dad, Shawn, knew how to fix anything and handle challenging situations. Since Shawn passed away 1.5 years ago in a car accident we have had to learn practical skills ourselves. We are learning to take care of our cars, handle our 6 acres, fix sprinklers, and more. We are fortunate to have help from family and friends as we tackle hard things. Grandpa Paul helped us put in an automatic gate, Grandpa Paul and Grandpa Wally helped fix a water main break and Trent and Joseph helped fix the second water main break when Grandpa Paul and our uncles were taking Cole to college. Cole talks about like learning to use tools to make a bird house as one of our little wins.
Cole also talks about big challenges. Losing his dad while being in high school was the biggest challenge. We then had a flood, exploding glass shower door, car issues, and then a week after Cole left for college, a fire that destroyed the garage damaged bedrooms. We have had to move out of our home twice since Shawn died. Each time for months at a time. We still don't have real walls in the kids' rooms and our garage is 100% gone. We don't have laundry or heat and it is winter. But, we are learning new skills as we learn to be practical and resilient.