Having J home for winter break was a great. Among other things, I felt that the universe gives us way more second chances than we deserve with kids. Their love is generous and for that I am grateful. It was a delicate balancing act learning how to be a mother to an adult, living her own life and on the cusp of independence. There is a part of her that enjoys the life she left behind here, being a baby and then there is the other that is her own woman.
My job was to learn to balance the two, support only gently and left her fly far and away. The training wheels have come off and J is on her own. I am glad to be a friend and sounding-board to her in years to come - that will be my main role in her life. But she still loves the way I put her breakfast together - her favorite meal of the day. That may well be the strongest connection between the life she left behind and what is to follow. Each morning she may take a few extra minutes to make herself a breakfast she enjoys and in time there will be others in her life that look forward to it - her touch, her part in brightening the days of those who love her.
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