Facebook is filled with posts and images of children transitioning from one stage in life to another. There are the little ones who are going to pre-school for the first time. Their moms’ are both excited and nervous. Then there are the new middle schoolers and high school students. Perhaps the most touching of all are the young men and women who are going away for college. Their mamas are remembering the times that they held their babies in their arms and when they folded their baby clothes. Suddenly without warning childhood has ended and the babies are ready to spread their wings and work toward becoming totally independent from their parents. I sometimes wonder if the uncertainties of leaving home are more difficult for the mothers than they are for the young people who see the unknown as a well earned adventure. Life is suddenly very different and no matter how well everyone has prepared for the changes, they take all by surprise.
I remember driving my eldest daughter, Maryellen, to the University of Texas in Austin. At first I kept busy helping her set up her dorm room but when it came time to drive away and leave her on campus my heart almost burst open. I hid the tears that were forming in my eyes until Mike had driven far enough away that she would not see. Then the dam that had been holding back my emotions burst. I sobbed for at least an hour. I couldn’t imagine how I was going to wake up each morning and not see her face or go to sleep each night not knowing that she was safely tucked in. I eventually adjusted just as all parents do. I understood that it was in her best interests to begin to move away from me. Her confidence in her own abilities was proof that I had done a good job as a parent. It is the nature of life for our young ones to slowly but surely progress into their adult roles. If my daughter had never left my home I would have had more to worry about than when she made that important leap into the adult world. Nonetheless, those first days and weeks and months without Maryellen in my home were some of the most distressing of my life. As a good mom I of course never let her know just how emotional I was feeling. Continue reading “Transitions”
We all need money to survive in this world. We have to purchase food, pay rent, buy a bare minimum of clothing, and find the money for healthcare. There are extras that make our lives easier like owning a car, investing in an education, having a phone, and getting access to a television or radio. I’ve lived on a shoestring that didn’t allow for the cost of air conditioning even in severe summer heat and I’ve known the luxury of being middle class and having enough leftover money for savings, entertainment and vacations. I’ll be the first to say that money does make life better and less stressful but there is a fine line between having enough to live decently and being so obsessed with having more and more money that it becomes a driving force that overtakes us. Sometimes we humans become as greedy as the fisherman’s wife who was never satisfied with the financial blessings that she received. She always wanted more, more, more and never managed to find the happiness that eluded her. The truth is that aside from the basic human needs some of the most important things that we treasure don’t cost a dime. 
As I prepare to do some traveling tomorrow I find myself being unfocused and filled with random thoughts. I suspect that I’m in checklist mode as I make certain that the the mail will stop, the bags are packed, and my plants are watered among a hundred other little details that have to be covered before we drive away. Going on a trip brings out my obsessive compulsive tendencies big time. 
All It Takes Is A Little Love 