#0616 The Torch is passed

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Inner Peace Be Upon You

# 0616 Peace and Blessings Every Day

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The Torch is passed

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The Torch is passed.

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 wan smile and her occasional, "You look

pale. Are you all right?  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 wide smile. The torch has been passed.

~Author Unknown~

Inner Peace Be Upon You.

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