Kids Are Like Kites

My fall semester is ending in a three-week test like my son.  I have ripped apart the footstool, painted the wood, sanded down the rocker and started painting.  My calligraphy is going slow....need to practice more. I read through the aromatherapy book...interesting, will need more time for that study.  I also read through the new authors I was exploring.  My favorite by far was reading through parts of "Forever, Erma" by Erma Bombeck.

There is just something to be said about reading the wisdom of seasoned women.  I found some interesting things in the younger writers' books, but they really left me with, well, you haven't lived long enough yet!  Erma made me smile, cry, nod my head and a desire to set with her over a cup of tea.  There is such  truth to scripture saying the "older women are to teach the younger women", and yes, I now find myself in the category of older women, but I still have so much to learn.

So I want to share one of her treasures....just in part.
Erma is talking to a woman who is mourning her daughter leaving home.  The daughter is 24!  She writes this piece encouraging mothers to know when their job is over.

"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 so you keep letting it out.  With each twist of the ball of twine, there is a sadness that goes with the joy, because the kite because more distant, and somehow you know 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".

Thank you Erma...I passed my three-week test.  Thanks for the advice on parenting, empty-nest, marriage, holidays, housekeeping, family, friends and aging. Thanks to so many seasoned women who share their wisdom daily through their blogs. May we all learn to pass the baton to the younger generation as we release our kites!