How Sweet It Is To Be Loved…

Don’t you just love how there is at least one song for every possible situation in life–and you usually don’t have to search long to find it, thanks to Google.  Recently, I was making (another) video montage of our family.  This one in honor of Valentine’s Day!  I didn’t have to think very long before I thought of the perfect theme song for it–which also happens to be the title of this post!

As I was creating my video montage, I began to ponder, Is there anything sweeter in  life than loving and being loved?  I didn’t have to ponder long before I knew my answer…  I wouldn’t trade having all the gold and riches in the world for the honor of loving and being loved!

I still remember how I felt, all those years ago, when Ed and I met and fell in love.  We may be older, with a lot of miles on us, but our love for each other is just as strong and true as it was forty-two years ago!  In addition, the truly amazing thing is, who knew that forty-something years later, we’d be surrounded by so many loved ones who have made our lives so much sweeter over the years?

Six years after our marriage, Ed and I were blessed with a new love–in the form of an eight pound baby daughter.  We loved her and nurtured her, and she in turn, loved us back.  Over the next seven years, Ed and I were blessed with two more bundles of love, otherwise known as our sons.  With those three wonderful additions, Ed and I became so much more than just husband and wife–we became a family!

We all lived happily together in our little circle of family  love, until one day Ed and I blinked our eyes, and discovered that our children had grown up!  Before long, Ed was walking our daughter down the aisle, and giving her away to another man.  But we didn’t lose our daughter, we gained another son, in the form of a “son-in-law”.

With that wedding, we learned how to open our family circle of love, and include others.  Over the next ten years, Ed would make two more trips down the aisle, to serve as Best Man at both of our son’s weddings.  Twice more, our family circle opened wider to include new daughters.

For a long time, Ed and I had no idea that the sweetest additions were yet to arrive in our family.  You know, those little bundles of joy that you can love, spoil rotten, then send home with their parents–otherwise known as grandchildren!  We opened our family circle just a little bit wider, and it didn’t take us long to figure out that we loved being grandparents!  Our first grandchild arrived just over five years ago, with two more following!

For now, our circle of love has been enlarged by three  precious grandchildren–one girl, and two little boys.  Just the same as it was so many years ago when Ed and I were raising our little family!  Each addition to our family has been a blessing, and we treasure them all, whether they married into or were born into our family.

How sweet it is to love and be loved!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Brad’s Letter To Santa…

If you know me, you know I save almost everything!  I’m not a hoarder by any means, but I do love to hold onto my stuff.

When the children were growing up I kept a lot of their school papers, newspaper clippings, and even dried flowers from proms and such.  A few years ago, I presented each one of my grown children with a plastic tub full of “things” from their childhood.  I thought I’d given them everything, but lo and behold, this week I ran across a small tub of  special things that I kept for myself.  Among those things I found this…

It is a letter to Santa, written by our youngest son, Brad, at age seven.  Did you notice the date on the letter?  It was back in 1992–nineteen years ago!  My how time flies.  Santa Claus granted Brad’s wish, and I have a picture to prove it!

It’s times like these that make me glad I save those little things…My precious little “Joe Montana Wannabe” is now a twenty-six year old man!  I’m pretty sure I saved that little football outfit and put it in Brad’s tub, too!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

The “Awesome Eighties”…

Good Morning America celebrated the “Awesome Eighties” every day last week.  I really enjoyed looking back at the styles, music, and trends of the eighties, and it started me thinking…What was I doing during the eighties?

Let’s see…I began the eighties in my mid-twenties, with only one child, and ended the eighties in my mid-thirties with three children!   I guess I don’t have to tell you what I was doing during part of those awesome eighties!

April 1984...mother of two

I spent fourteen years at home,  raising our family.  Ten of those fourteen years took place during the eighties.  I was a bit preoccupied during the awesome eighties…

During the time I stayed at home with our children, I did various things to  earn and save money.  I learned how to make and decorate “character cakes”, and I made and sold children’s birthday cakes for a little while.  I used cloth diapers with the first child, and made most of my own baby food with the next two.  I sewed most of my clothing, and some of our daughter’s.  I made curtains, throw pillows, and various other things for our home.  Later, I learned how to make dolls, and sold them and handmade Christmas ornaments for extra money at Christmas.

During the eighties I finally got my driver’s license, and gained my independence.  I really didn’t have a choice anymore–I was now somebody’s mom and chauffeur.  I spent three years of the eighties taking  little ones to preschool classes–five mornings a week.  On Monday afternoons, I also took our daughter to dance classes.

April 1987...a family of five

One activity that I remember well from the eighties was going camping.  Our family purchased a used camper in 1986, and that was the beginning of a family adventure that lasted nearly a decade!  Our family had a lot of fun in that camper!  It was our “home away from home” for two full weeks every summer, and lots of weekends in between.  You wouldn’t believe the stuff we could pack inside the hallway of that camper!  Five bicycles, lawn chairs for everyone, a cooler,  a grill, a camp stove, and various other assorted accessories!  Sometimes we even threw in a wading pool or the guinea pig and the parakeet!

For a time, every Friday night at 10 o’clock found me glued to our television set!  I loved watching Don Johnson on “Miami Vice”.  Who knew someone could look so good wearing a black t-shirt with a white suit–and no socks!  I’ve dreamed of visiting Miami for over twenty years now–and finding Don Johnson in that white suit!

I was notorious for cutting the shoulder pads out of my dresses and blouses back in the day.  Occasionally, I still do.  I can’t stand all the extra bulkiness!  I hated stirrup pants, but finally gave in and bought a pair of them before they went out of style.  They drove me insane every time I wore them–just like I thought they would.  There was just something so wrong about that piece of elastic under the arch of my foot, and it made my feet sore!

I did love the bright neon colors of the eighties though, and I dressed my children in the bright colors for spring and summer.  I have lots of pictures to prove it–probably much to my children’s dismay!  They had school pictures taken while wearing those bright neon-colored shirts!  I still love neon colors to this day…

Easter - the end of the eighties...

I kind of  liked the “big hair” look of the eighties, but didn’t have the right kind of hair, or the  patience to pull off that look.  I never managed to get my bangs (or my daughter’s)  to flip back and layer the way some people could do–not even with all the gel and hairspray in China!  In fact, my own hair managed to get shorter (with a little help) with the addition of each child!  I barely had enough hair to comb by the end of the eighties, but it didn’t bother me a bit!

I’ve enjoyed this time spent reminiscing about the days of the eighties.  To me, the 80’s weren’t as good as the 70’s, but they were better than the 90’s.  What do you think?  And what were you doing during the awesome eighties?  I’d love to know as I hop on board Tuesday’s Train!

The Memory Boxes…

I’m a sentimental person.  When my children were growing up, I had a hard time letting go of their things.  It was always an ordeal for me when it came time to weed out their clothing or toys.  Eventually, I got rid of most of their old things, but I saved a few things, especially some of their toys, which I still have.

Brett, age 11 mos.

When our children were babies, I always kept two copies of a baby book for each child.  I kept one for myself, the second one I planned to give them when they were grown up.  I always wished I’d had a baby book of my own.

I was one of those mothers who saved their school papers and made scrapbooks for my children.  I saved examples of their handwriting, coloring, drawings, and the stories they wrote for the “Young Author’s Conference”.  I wanted my children to be able to look back one day, and remember their childhoods.  I saved favorite blankets, stuffed animals, and even sports equipment.  I kept all of these special things in an old cedar wardrobe that belonged to my grandmother.

As each child graduated from high school, I made a shadow box with their graduation caps, tassels, and other graduation memorabilia.  I hung their graduation shadow boxes on the wall in our hallway–next to the shadow boxes which held their “coming home outfits”.  Our hallway was lovingly referred to as “the hall of shame” because it was also lined with various childhood photos of our children!

Cub scouting days...

As each child grew up and left home, they left behind a room filled with discarded “stuff”.  Trophies, plaques, high school yearbooks, and more.  (Why do our children do this when they flee the nest?)  We didn’t need the space, so these things sat in the children’s bedrooms, and collected dust for several years…Then one day Ed and I decided to build another house and downsize.   Suddenly I had the dilemma of what to do with a lot of excess stuff!

Finally, I came up with the idea of making memory boxes for each of our grown children.  I bought three very large plastic storage containers.  Into those containers I put their baby book, childhood scrapbooks, high school yearbooks, graduation shadow boxes, and various other special items that I’d saved for each of them.  Then I gave the filled containers to each of our grown children.

My two sons didn’t even bother to look through their containers.  They stuck them in storage and forgot about them.  I felt a bit sad because they didn’t care about that box of memories that I’d so lovingly collected over the years…but, boys will be boys!

This past weekend our oldest son and his wife spent some time cleaning out their spare bed room, in preparation for their new baby.  (The spare room was where Brett had stored his memory box).  Brett told me that he took some time to look through his memory box as they were moving it out to the new storage shed.  He began telling me about some of the things he’d discovered in his box.

High school basketball days...

It’s been four years since I packed those boxes, and I’d actually forgotten what all I put in them.  I enjoyed hearing Brett describe what  he discovered in his box.  The scrapbook….his green baby blanket…the cub scouts uniform…the letterman jacket…sports clippings from the newspaper….the autographed basketball he won during the 3 point shoot-out contest!

Such fun memories from Brett’s first eighteen years of life…and it still it seems like it was just yesterday to me!  Where does the time go?

Every Picture Tells A Story…

You know, they say “every picture tells a story”–and they are right.  Today I’m sharing a picture from my collection–and  the story that goes along with it.  This is a motor scooter…a very tiny burned motor scooter!

A few years back, our oldest son, Brett, (who was grown at the time) decided that he wanted a motor scooter.  He found one that he liked at a place called Shady Grady’s.  Ha! Ha!  I already know what you’re thinking–because I was thinking the same thing!  He bought the motor scooter–not the one in the picture–but a larger one.  It was black, and looked exactly like a mini motorcycle.  Brett loved his scooter, and he rode the scooter around and about, until one day when it just stopped working!  They don’t call that guy “Shady Grady” for nothing…

Before too long, Brett found another motor scooter on the internet, for a price that seemed to good to be true.  I know what you’re thinking again–and you’re right!  When the scooter (in the photo) arrived, we all laughed hysterically because it was so tiny!  A motor scooter that appeared to be made for a midget!  I so wish I had a picture of Brett actually riding the thing–but I was too busy laughing to  take one!  Picture in your mind a young man over six feet tall riding on a  scooter that looked like it was made for a midget!  Brett almost covered the entire scooter when he sat on it!

Well, my Brett wasn’t going to be outdone, so he rode his tiny motor cycle anyway!  He rode the scooter over to a friend’s house, who happens to live nearby.  I can only imagine the stares that he must have gotten on the way!

I can’t remember exactly what happened, but the jest of the story is…the scooter malfunctioned while the friend was riding it, and  the thing caught on fire!  See that blackened area around the gas tank???  That must’ve been one hot ride!  Fortunately, the two guys got the fire put out, and there weren’t any injuries…just one messed up scooter!

I’d like to say that this incident ended the saga of motor scooters at our house, but it didn’t.  Remember the first black scooter that tore up so quickly?  Well, our youngest son, Brad, really liked it.  He bought a new motor for it, then paid someone to weld the motor on the frame for him.  All was well until Brad got the scooter home, cranked the it up, then discovered it would only travel in one direction– reverse!  (Something about the crank turning the wrong way…but nobody noticed!)   A scooter that won’t travel forward isn’t much good, so the little black scooter eventually ended up at the dump!

In the meantime, Brett sent photographs of the burned motor scooter to the company that he ordered it from, and explained what happened.  The company, in turn, sent him a replacement scooter.  I think he may have had to pay shipping.  In the end, he finally sold the new replacement scooter in an effort to recover some of his money.

However, our motor scooter adventures were not quite over yet!  Youngest son, Brad, was not happy that he had to scrap his motor scooter that would only run backwards!   He went back to Shady Grady’s (believe it or not) and bought himself an orange motor scooter–with red flames on it!

This one turned out to be a good little scooter, and Brad rode it until he eventually moved up to a full-sized motorcycle.  At this time, Brad sold the scooter– to his older brother, Brett, who rode it–until the tire went flat.  Apparently there was a problem finding a tube for the tire, so the scooter sat abandoned under our car shelter for several years…

Well,  guess who eventually fixed the motor scooter and is still ridin’  it today?  My husband!  Man, I just can’t seem to catch a break with these motor scooters!!!  Yep,  Ed’s cruisin’ all around on his orange scooter, with red flames shootin’ down the sides of the gas tank!  At least they’re fake flames, and not  real ones!

I refuse to ride a motorcycle (or scooter) anymore, but as you can see from the above photo, my husband has found two other willing passengers!  Just how many people can fit on a scooter, anyway?  Happy trails…

Happy 10th Wedding Anniversary To Brandy and Clint…

Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s been ten years already!  It seems like just yesterday when the my husband and I were having lunch with our daughter–her last one as a single woman. 

We had Subway sandwiches for lunch on her wedding day, and as we were eating them, we made the comment that it would be our last such meal together…but we never lost our daughter.  Instead, we gained another son…and five years later, we gained a beautiful granddaughter.

 

 
Our daughter and her husband remind me very much of my husband and myself in so many ways. It’s not difficult at all to imagine the two of them growing old together.

I can also visualize Madison growing into a lovely young woman, and one day eating her last meal–as a single woman–with her parents…in the same kitchen where her mom ate that Subway sandwich with us!

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish Brandy and Clint a very happy tenth wedding anniversary with a special video that I put together for them. We love you guys! Enjoy your special day! Wishing you many, many, more happy years together.

The Wedding Day…

Our son’s wedding day began bright and early for us. We didn’t get into bed until after 1 a.m., but we were up around 7.  Jennifer arrived shortly after,  to pick up the church key.  Then she was off to get her hair and makeup done at the church.

Strangely enough, I was calm the entire day, from beginning to end. In hindsight, I think I was too exhausted to be anything else!  Never once did I feel anxious–well, maybe a tad, when my dress fell apart, but I’ll get to that in a moment!

Brad stopped by our house about 10:30 that morning. He wasn’t dressed, and still hadn’t printed out the boarding passes for the cruise. We were supposed to be dressed and at the church by 11!  That’s my Brad,  always waiting until the eleventh hour…

Fortunately, the photographer was busy with the bride, so we had plenty of time to waste–because we forgot to take the wedding rings to the church with us!  Lucky for us, the church is only about four miles from our house, so Brad dashed back home to pick up the rings!  The rest of us sat around, and ate the snacks that I’d prepared in the kitchen…and we waited.

Brad mentioned to me that one of the groomsmen was missing a button on his tux jacket. It was the top button, which would be noticable. We discovered that the bottom button should be left unfastened anyway, so we decided to move the bottom button to the top!  I knew about this problem ahead of time, so I took a needle and thread to the church with me…

Lots of “primping” was going on at the church, as well as lots of picture-taking. Brad and Jenn chose to not see each other before the ceremony, which resulted in some covert operations concerning pictures! I enjoyed rambling around with my camera, taking candid shots of whatever was going on…like these four buddies who looked too cool in their new shades!

I moved the button on Jason’s tux, then put my needle and thread away. However, I had to get it back out again when the front clasp fell off my jacket–just before we were going to have family pictures taken!!! I called a quick “time out”, and went to sew my clasp back on! Thank goodness for that needle and thread–even though the thread was black, and my dress wasn’t!

About the time pictures were finished, we began to notice that it was getting warm inside of the sanctuary. The air conditioning was mal-functioning! I never did find out if it just “froze up” or actually stopped working, but the sanctuary was not very cool by the time of the ceremony–but we survived! One toilet stopped up in the ladies room, too, but fortunately there were two more!

Ed’s mom didn’t feel comfortable walking down the aisle as part of the ceremony, so she was seated early.  We anticipated this, since she’d fallen a few days before.

I managed to get the groom’s unity candle lit on the first try, thank goodness, and didn’t fall coming down the step!

The wedding progressed pretty smoothly after that.  Our little two-and-a-half-year-old grandson did a great job as the ring bearer, and our four-and-one-half year old granddaughter performed well as the flower girl. Then the bride entered on the arm of her father.

From there, everything progressed normally, until the preacher decided to preach a sermon in the middle of the ceremony!  Seriously, he stopped in mid-ceremony and began to preach a sermon (about marriage) to Brad and Jennifer!  This following the eight hours of marriage counseling that the couple spent with him!

For a few minutes, we were wondering if he was actually going to continue with the ceremony! He even went so far as to remark at the end of his “sermon” for us to “please pray for Brad and Jennifer–cause they’re gonna’ need it!” I guess he thought about how that remark sounded, then quickly added, “we all do” to the end of the sentence.  It was an awkward moment.

We all made this mental note for our future reference :  never let a once “scorned and divorced” preacher perform your wedding ceremony!  He also shared with Brad and Jennifer that 17 out of the 19 couples that he has joined in marriage, are now divorced.  It’s no wonder he’s so jaded about marriage!

At the reception, Brad and Jennifer were discussing the turn of events during the ceremony, when I said to both of them, “You’ll just have to prove the preacher wrong.”  They both readily agreed.  I’m wishing our happy couple the best, and praying that the preacher’s track record with marriages improves–beginning with Brad and Jennifer.

Flashback Friday…Physical Education In a Not-So-Physical Family!

When I saw Linda’s topic of choice today, I almost didn’t participate! Why, you might ask? Because I only have one thing to say about PE in school…YUK!  However, I’m a good sport, and I do have at least one funny tale to tell concerning PE, so here goes…

I remember having lots of recesses during grades one through six, and during the earliest of those years I remember having to play organized games like “Red Rover” or Dodge Ball during recess…I also remember I HATED playing those stupid games. I didn’t enjoy anything that made me run or sweat–and I haven’t changed my mind in the fifty-something years since those days!

We didn’t start having actual PE until I reached the seventh grade. It was then I realized that I was in big trouble! Push ups, chin ups, sit ups, running laps, and playing ball!!!  Oh nooooo… Remember, I hate anything that makes me run or sweat!!!  Somehow, I endured two years of that pure hell  torture, otherwise known as Physical Education, wondering all the while why I needed to be educated physically! 

I never was able to do a chin up, and I refused to play soft ball after I got hit in the nose with the ball!  I decided the coach could just fail me before I’d play soft ball again.  I was stubborn even back then!  However, I did manage to do the sit ups, push ups, and run the laps…again I say, YUK!  What’s to like about running until you want to puke? 

Oh, and did I mention that we had to “dress out” for PE?  We had to  bring shorts and a shirt from home to wear during that hour of torture  , I mean physical education!  Putting the clothes on wasn’t bad, but taking them off while all sweaty (remember I hate to sweat), and having to put your  clean school clothes back on was disgusting!

If you flash forward about 15 years from my days in seventh and eighth grade hell PE, you would meet my daughter, Brandy.  She appeared to be a lot like her mother–in more ways than her appearance!  Brandy had the misfortune of having to begin physical torture education in Kindergarten, and she hated it twice as much as I ever did!  Now bear in mind, I never told this child my dislike of sweaty, physical things–otherwise known as PE, but she had somehow inherited her own dislike of such things!  The poor thing found herself having to endure hell PE all the way from Kindergarten through the tenth grade–thanks to that President’s Physical Fittness Program!  Again, I say, YUK!  Brandy was no fool though, she constantly found excuses to avoid sweaty, physical activities such as running laps…and I didn’t blame her one bit!  In her final years of PE, she discovered she could clean up around the gym to escape the torture, and finally came the option to became a student aid for a pre-k class!  Yay, she was free of PE at last!!!

Flash forward six years after daughter, Brandy, and you would meet our second son, Brad.  He seemed to have inherited that same hatred of all most things physical–especially running laps!  Again I ask, who wants to run until they feel the need to puke?  Brad liked sports, he just didn’t care for the training part, so he didn’t participate much in sports! 

Brad apparently inherited some of his older sister’s saviness!  At one point during his school career, after realizing that girls wearing pumps were exempt from running,  Brad actually borrowed and wore a pair of his sister’s white dress pumps to school, in order to avoid running one day!  It worked!  He still fondly recalls one of his teachers looking down at his feet clad in those women’s shoes, and remarking, “Don’t you know that you’re not supposed to wear white pumps after Labor Day?”  Brandy fondly recalls that her white pumps never fit quite right after that day…

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Believe It Or Not Moments…While Child Rearing

Today I am going to reflect on some of the “believe it or not moments” we’ve experienced while raising our three kids.  If you’ve raised any children, you’ve probably had a few of these moments yourself.  If you are in the process of raising your kids, and you have not experienced any of these moments–you probably will!

Long ago...our kids were this young...believe it or not!

Once upon a time my daughter, Brandy,  had a girlfriend from their private school come over for a visit to our house.  (the little private school had students from several neighboring counties going there)  So far so good…My daughter also had her boyfriend from public school over to our house at the same time.  Brandy’s two friends had never met each other before.  Let’s just say that Brandy’s girlfriend and boyfriend mixed like oil and water!  They bickered back and forth the entire time.  At some point, Brandy’s boyfriend ended up going outside and began punching the pole under our car port!!!  Believe it or not!!  Later,  it was time for  me to take Brandy’s girlfriend home.  The girl lived in a neighboring town, and I wasn’t familiar with where she lived.  When I asked her for directions to her house (while we were in the car, headed to the town where she lived), she claimed that she didn’t know where she lived!  Yeah, right!  This girl was a teenager, and didn’t know here she lived???  I had to pull over, park, and call her mother for directions to her house.  Believe it or not!

One time, when our oldest son had recently learned how to drive, and had gotten his driver’s license,  my husband and I sent our son to town to pick up a pizza for us.  We also let our younger teenaged son go along for the ride(bad idea–double trouble).  They were gone for a very  l-o-n-g  time!  This was in the days before we got our cell phones, so we didn’t know what had happened to them.   Of course we were worried sick!  When the boys FINALLY got back with our pizza, it was stone cold!  The boys came home telling an elaborate tale about seeing “Big John”, a psycho boy who “had it in” for my oldest son because of a girl, in town.  They told how they were pursued all over town by this boy who wanted to beat my son up!  We totally believed this story for years, until the boys eventually “came clean” and admitted that they’d made part of the story up.  They did see “Big John, but most of the time  they were out “goofing off” –while we were worried sick AND our pizza was getting cold!  Unfortunately, that wasn’t the last “tale” that we’d hear out of those two boys.

My last tale also concerns our oldest son, when he was younger(do you see a pattern here?).  It took place when he was in the sixth grade and was going to a private Christian school.  One day we got that phone call from the school that every parent dreads!  Our son was in trouble!  Apparently, while visiting his grandmother’s house one day, our son decided to plunder in his cousin’s room. Without anyone’s knowledge, our son found his cousin’s nude women picture cards, stole them,  and took them to school!  Then he showed them around, and got caught!  Believe it or not!  I could have died on the spot!  The teacher probably thought those horrible cards came from our house!!!  I’ve never forgotten how embarrassed I felt.  Sometimes the boys will laugh about this incident, but it’s hard for me to find the humor! 

I could sit here and tell you at least a dozen more “believe it or not”  tales, but I think I’ll save a few for another day.  One thing for sure, remembering these times makes me glad that my children are all grown up…I’m getting too old for that kind of drama!  In case you’re wondering, our kids now range in age from 31 to 25. 

I’m joining in the blog hop “Think of Me Thursday” with co-hostesses  http://wwwmrsmamadrama.com and http://www.bellycharms.blogspot.com If you’d like to join in the fun, simply hop over to either site for the rules on how to go about it.  Thanks for hosting, ladies!

Steppin’ On My Heart…

I remember, years ago, my children were little and they were always “underfoot”.  When I would complain, my mother-in-law would say to me “When children are little, they step on your toes, when they are big, they’ll step on your heart.”  I had no idea what she meant back then, but  over the years, I’ve come to understand exactly what she meant by that statement.

I used to have this crazy idea that once my children were grown, all of my worries would be over…yeah, I know, it was a crazy idea.  Now I realize that it doesn’t matter if my children are 60 and I’m 80, I will always love and worry about them.  Whenever anything goes wrong in my children’s lives, it affects me, too–no matter what their age, they will be always “stepping on my heart.” 

When I was a young, married adult,  still growing up, it never occurred to me that our parents might be worrying about Ed and me.  We got married, moved away, and began our lives without much of a thought of anything except each other.  Fortunately, Ed and I were blessed for many years, and never really endured any hardships.  Our parents didn’t have much worry with us.  Our first real hardship didn’t come until 1994, when I  became chronically ill with an auto-immune disease–after 22 years of marriage.

My husband, Ed, originally had four brothers.  Two of his brothers died while they were just children.  One of Ed’s living brothers has often led a life filled with trials and tribulations.  Let’s just say, my mother-in-law has had her heart stepped on many times through the years, so she spoke from experience. 

Times are different, people are different, and all of my own children have already endured numerous hardships in their young adult lives.  Our family  list includes “engagements that didn’t work out”,  “near miscarriage/high risk pregnancy”, “hanging out with wrong crowd”, “loss of direction in life”, “college drop-out”, “trouble adjusting to marriage”, “financial woes”,  “separation/near divorce”, “marriage reconciliation”, and “failure to find job”  Wow, just typing the list makes me stressed…we’ve been through a lot, and still going.  One of my children has recently become involved in a new crisis–” loved one diagnosed with cancer”.  My heart aches for both of them, my son and his love.  Twenty year olds should not have to be dealing with such things,  yet here they are…facing it together. 

Now I understand exactly what my mother-in-law was telling me all of those years ago.  Even though my children have been gone from under my feet for many years, they are still “steppin’ on my heart” every time something goes wrong in their lives.  When they are hurting, I am hurting.

Funny how life is that way…the more some things change, the more others stay the same.