Teaching Them To Fly

I think the hardest part of mothering is learning when to let go.

Something I'm not very good at.

I do think there has got to come a time when we have to let them sink or swim and trust and pray that they will make the right decisions based on what they've been taught.

I will say, it sure is hard to sit on the sidelines of their lives when things aren't going quite the way they are supposed to. When you know, deep in your heart, that they are making a mistake but also knowing that the best way for them to learn is to fall.

And hope they'll pick themselves up and figure it all out.

(Alex...coaching Brian from the sidelines)

I was supposed to meet an older, wiser friend for tea this week but the flu that has been sweeping through my little house swept me away too, so she brilliantly suggested 'tea by phone'.

So there we sat, each in our own homes...me with my tea and a mexican pastry (that a former student of M's brought to him...yum!) and my dayquil and kleenex, and had a long and lively chat by phone.

I haven't left the house in 3 days...in fact, I am sort of convinced that there are piles of snow outside my little house and I can't go out.

Not likely in southern California, but one can dream.

=0)