I am very proud of my kids - all of them, including my daughters. Of course, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth" (3 Jn. 4). But each continues to distinguish themselves in their chosen ventures in life.
The latest example of that is younger son, Josh who, with the support of his dear wife Aubri, is entering a brave new world on 12/1.
Josh spent the first 14 years of his professional life as a pediatric occupational therapist. And if that sounds to you like an odd combination of words you've got company. His dad had to ask why kids need occupational therapy. Get a better job??
In the medical field the word occupational means something like doing tasks. So a person goes to physical therapy to increase strength and range of motion, then to an occupational therapist to learn how to use those improvements to climb stairs, or brush one's hair, or tie shoe laces. A pediatric OT works primarily with special needs kids to, along side their PT, help them reach their maximum potential in life. Having witnessed that work in person I can testify that it's amazing what skilled PT's and OT's can do with even the most severely challenged children. I'm especially impressed at the improvement I've seen in children with significant autism.
A couple of years ago Josh realized pediatric therapy was not something he could or should do in the later years of his professional career. Spending most of the day on the floor with children is work best done by younger adults. So after careful research on all the options he decided to switch careers and become a Certified Hand Therapist, a CHT. For reasons I don't understand a CHT treats everything from the shoulder down to the hand, treating people post-op, those with traumatic hand injuries, deformities, and the like.
There's a significant shortage of CHT's in the country so it promised good opportunities, but the knowledge and skill set required to gain certification is rigorous to say the least.
Josh aced all of it in short order.
He then had multiple job offers there in Phoenix metro, including with Mayo Clinic which has a large branch operation there.He eventually settled into a hand therapy practice established by a group of hand surgeons. To no one's surprise he was soon both doing therapy but also managing the growing practice.
A month ago he learned that practice had been bought out by a large therapy corporation. They offered Josh a very generous package to continue there, but he decided some aspects of their business model didn't suit his perspectives. He had a couple of other options and decided to take one of them.
An entrepreneur/investor with significant expertise in the business side of the medical field is partnering with Josh to open a new hand clinic in the west valley of the Phoenix metro area. It will be only the second hand clinic on the west side of the city and the other one is a one-person operation. This investor is the guy who set up the original clinic where Josh worked. That's why he approached Josh about this venture; he knows Josh's character, work ethic, professional reputation, etc. He presented Josh with a business plan that, Deo volente, will eventually result in Josh (and Aubri) achieving a level of professional and business success they never would have thought possible. So in one month Hand Therapy Partners - West (Instagram page here) will open its doors on Glendale Ave. just west of the Loop 101 Freeway.
There is always some risk in a new venture and this one is no different. But Josh says they can see how the past has prepared them for this future in specific ways. Thus, Circumstances (capital C) give them confidence that Someone is at work.
I am a proud papa. And very thankful for what I recognize is God's grace. Those special needs kids Josh used to work with - but by God's grace we would be the parents of one of those (dear) children. Instead he chose to give us bright, well balanced, funny sons who, when I stop to think about it, give me a joy that comes out my Scandinavia eyes.
T'ank you, Fadder.
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