Victory and Defeat

 Jacob took 2nd place in the varsity wrestling tournament.  I missed the first matches where he quickly pinned his opponents, and only made it for the grueling match of the championship round where he got a nosebleed from being thrown hard against the mat and faced defeat, but the amazing thing is that he always has such a positive outlook on life.  Afterwards he was optimistic despite the tough match.  Wrestling is definitely not for the faint of heart.
His attitude carries over into other areas in life too.  When he misses the bus, he thinks everything is just fine because he can just walk in the cold and get there in time.  He astounds me with his ability to bounce back when things are rough.  His grades in Math are less than stellar even though he has turned in all of his work and spends significant amounts of time studying and doing  homework.  But he just rolls with it and keeps on trying, going early, redoing things until he gets it right even if it he doesn't get the perfect grade.  I could seriously benefit from more of his don't quit attitude, because although my perfectionist tendencies paid off with scholarships and some nice piano pieces, too often I struggle seeing what is not good instead of having the hope that I can always get better and enjoying the good parts of life.