51. Spoons Anyone?

Today we're starting the count down until Trisha and Robby arrive from Switzerland for their three week vacation.  We can hardly wait!  Things are coming together in the master bedroom.  Pat is here painting her heart out.  Her daughter and family are here from Denmark for six weeks, too.  She also has the heartache of a child so far away.  She has perhaps a little bit of a different attitude about the separation as she left her home in Europe to marry a man from the United States.  

Trisha was recently  recruited for a position at a University in Bern.  She will still teach English as a second language, but with less hours and much more money, not to mention all the benefits.  We are, of course, so proud of her and want nothing but the best for her, however, there is always the thought of her being so successful that she decides to stay there.  If she does come home, this will be a big plus on her resume.  They sought her out which is something else to be proud of.  It would be hard to pass up fourteen weeks (that's right fourteen weeks) vacation a year with all paid holidays.  What ever her decision we will make the best of it.  I finally sent in our passport renewal.  I wasn't going to just to be stubborn, but they go up thirty five dollars the first of July.  I'm good at cutting my nose off to spite myself, but I can be dissuaded, especially by money.

We had children when we were very young partly thinking that when they were eighteen they would be out on their own like we were.  We could then be free to do as we pleased.  Oh, the cruel tricks fate plays on you.  My naivety has gotten me in more trouble than one can imagine.  They never stop needing you even if they don't listen to a thing you say.  You can't make them do anything.  All you can do is stand by at the ready to pick up the pieces and remember not to say "I told you so."  Not giving a lecture is the hardest part of being a parent.  Well, that may be an exaggeration, but it is definitely in the top ten.  When the kids were small Bob's fraternal grandmother told me once when I was particularly frazzled with motherhood that, "They are stepping on your toes now, soon they will be stepping on your heart."  Oh brother, what an understatement! 

Parenthood is the hardest, most rewarding job you will ever undertake, bar none.  When the last one crossed the stage to get the diploma, Bob and I both screamed "Free at last, free at last!  Praise God All Mighty, free at last!"  Well, we all know that's a joke.  It's the same book just a new chapter.  Just another plateau on Fool's Hill.  No matter what, we have never regretted having children or having them when we were young.  The experience has made us well rounded.  The difficult part isn't  having  them, it's the letting go of them that is hard.  We love Italy and the Italians.  They can be so succinct.  My favorite Italian quote is "When children are babies they are so sweet you could eat them with a spoon,  when they are sixteen you wish so heartily that you had!"  My sentiment exactly!