Look Forward, Looking Back, and Saying Goodbye

I am almost 48 years old and I am realizing that I am now at the age where my friends and I are beginning to face really big adult things.

First, our kids are growing up and getting ready to move out - Parker is a senior and he only has four more months of high school, a summer of work and play, then he will move to Troy to begin the next part of his life - one of without me seeing him everyday. Am I ready? Is he ready? Have we done all we can as parents to help him become the young man God wants him to be? Some of these things are up to him - I know without a shadow of doubt he KNOWS and has BEEN TAUGHT right from wrong, good from bad. Time will tell. I just keep on doing what I do as a Mom and praying hard! God already knows how it will all turn out, but I sure wish He'd let me in on a few things!! Time and patience . . .

Second, our parents are getting older and all that that entails. We, the children, are beginning to realize they are not ageless. We are actually becoming our parents, in some instances. Sometimes, I will do something and the mannerism catches me off guard, because I feel like I have just morphed into Mama . . . that's not a bad thing, just a weird feeling! One part of our parents getting older is sickness and dying and death. I lost one parent at a very early age so I have a little head start on some of my friends. One of my friends has been watching her dad battle cancer. He lost his battle last night, and so now, one of the first of my closest adult friends is grieving the loss of her sweet daddy. I have wonderful childhood memories of visiting her parents' homes - her parents were both divorced and remarried, so I had TWO homes-away-from home! Her collective groups of parents were like second parents to me - good times!

Next time you look in the mirror, don't be surprised if you catch a glimpse of your parents looking back.