Diary of a Doc: Dr JJ -- 1186 Days and Counting

First of all, I want to thank you all for your good wishes for DOD. He’s hanging in at home and gathering a little strength, day by day. As for the boy, he trekked to Chicago last weekend, riding shotgun with a librarian from Flint, for a national backgammon tournament. Backgammon shares a space in his heart with poker, but somehow the former seems more legitimate in mom’s mind (no seedy, smoky, sunglass-clad, shifty-eyed visuals in my brain). Having never set foot on the streets of “ChiTown” (except for his layovers in the airport), Max now understands why everyone LOVES Chicago (except in the deep of Winter). Here he was, kid from the BIG City, calling mom in absolute wonder at the gorgeous architecture, river through the City, admiring the vibrancy and beauty of this incredible jewel in the middle of the US! The tournament was held out in the ‘burbs, and Max quickly was humbled (and his scratched together entry fees and buy ins quickly gone) by the finesse and skill held by those many years senior to him. He didn’t mind being excluded early – as that gave him time to meet his heroes of this “sport,” garner some knowledge, and most importantly, stand back and realize that winning at this level requires years and years of practice, dedication, and, as he realized, many losses on the way to victory. His mind set zoomed from the fantasy of winning (as a young neophyte) to the reality of realizing that true dedication, humbling losses and resilient persistence are the qualities of someone who succeeds. I hope that he will apply this experience, and these lessons to his life on campus, and his life on this planet. I already started to see a hint of it when he was not hired as a campus tour guide (a plum paid position), and set about to try again in the fall (with no anger, angst, or assigning blame)……now let’s hope he finds a job this summer as he returns home April 29 for 3 months!