~SUBMITTED BY: LISA GUIDROZ~
Isn't it curious how some mothers don't know when they've done a good job - or when it's
basically finished?
They figure the longer the kids hang around, the better parents they are. I guess it
all depends on how you regard children in the first place.
How do you regard yours?
Are they like an appliance? The more you have the more status you command?
They're under warranty to perform at your whim for the first 18 years, then when they
start costing money, you get rid of them?
Are they like a used car? You maintain it for years and when you're ready to sell it
to someone else, you feel a great responsibility to keep it running or it reflects on you?
Are they like an endowment policy? You invest in them for 18 or 20 years and then
for the next 20 years, they return dividends that support you in you declining years or
they suffer from terminal guilt?
Are they like a finely gilded mirror that reflects the image of their owner in every way?
On the day the owner looks in and sees a flaw, a crack, a distortion, one tiny idea
or attitude that is different from his own, he casts it aside and declares himself a
failure?
I see children as kites. You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground.
You run with them until you're both breathless. . . . . they crash. . . . . .you
add a longer tail. . . . .they hit the rooftop. . . . .You pluck them out of the spout. .
. . You patch and comfort, adjust and teach. You watch them lifted by the wind and
assure them that someday they'll fly.
Finally they are airborne, but they need more string and you keep letting it out and with
each twist of the ball of twine, there is a sadness that goes with the joy because the
kite becomes more distant and somehow you know that it won't be long before that beautiful
creature will snap the lifeline that bound you together and soar as it was meant to soar.
. . . . .Free and Alone.
Only then do you know that you did your job.
Author: Erma Bombeck
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