>
>
>WORRY
>
>Is there a magic cutoff period when
>offspring become accountable for their own
>actions? Is there a wonderful moment when
>parents can become detached spectators in
>the lives of their children and shrug, "It's
>their life," and feel nothing?
>
>When I was in my twenties, I stood in a hospital
>corridor waiting for doctors to put a few
>stitches in my son's head. I asked, "When do
>you stop worrying?" The nurse said,
>"When they get out of the accident stage." My
>mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
>
>When I was in my thirties, I sat on a little
>chair in a classroom and heard how one of my
>children talked incessantly, disrupted the class,
>and was headed for a career making
>license plates. As if to read my mind, a teacher
>said, "Don't worry, they all go through
>this stage and then you can sit back, relax and
>enjoy them." My mother just smiled
>faintly and said nothing.
>
>
>When I was in my forties, I spent a lifetime
>waiting for the phone to ring, the cars to come
>home, the front door to open. A friend said,
>"They're trying to find themselves. Don't worry,
>in a few years, you can stop worrying. They'll be
>adults." My mother just smiled faintly
>and said nothing.
>
>By the time I was 50, I was sick & tired of being
>vulnerable. I was still worrying over my
>children, but there was a new wrinkle. There
>was nothing I could do about it. My
>mother just smiled faintly and said nothing. I
>continued to anguish over their failures, be
>tormented by their frustrations and absorbed in
>their disappointments.
>
>My friends said that when my kids got married I
>could stop worrying and lead my own
>life. I wanted to believe that, but I was
>haunted by my mother's warm smile and her
>occasional, "You look pale. Are you alright?
>Call me the minute you get home. Are
>you depressed about something?"
>
>Can it be that parents are sentenced to a
>lifetime of worry? Is concern for one another
>handed down like a torch to blaze the trail of
>human frailties and the fears of the
>unknown? Is concern a curse or is it a virtue
>that elevates us to the highest form of life?
>
>One of my children became quite irritable
>recently, saying to me, "Where were you? I've
>been calling for 3 days, and no one answered I was worried."
>I smiled a warm smile.
>The torch has been passed.

AMEN!!!!!!!!!

this is awesome! ~Amber D

i needed to read that, thank you.. katie