Dinner out…

We just returned from dinner with my youngest daughter and her boyfriend. What a joy to spend time getting to know them, now.
Growing up is hard, and letting go and moving on tear at a family, or at least my family. We are both close and loud. Launching these young adults into their own lives has taken a toll. We’ve pushed each other’s buttons, said things we wish we could take back, and experienced times I could not have imagined. But now, as they find their footing, we have another chance to get to know them.
I am guilty of holding on to old stories about my kids. Stories they have long since outgrown. In my family, I am the “sensitive one,”, I truly hate that. Over the years one child get’s tagged a “difficult one,” a “good one,” or an “easy child.” But in our family, those labels don’t tell the whole story. They have all been difficult, good, easy, and sensitive… and a bunch of other labels as well. The truth is, we are all a complicated mixture of these traits and many more.
Although I have known them longest, that doesn’t automatically allow me entrance into their lives. I know I have to listen, and learn who they are becoming. I get to cheer on delicate things just being born in their lives, and allow some of the familiar things to pass away. Now, my job and my joy is to get to know them again, to learn new stories about their lives, their possibilities, and their futures. I hope to leave their childhood selves behind as we grow together in new ways. Tonight we made steps toward that future. We talked about their jobs, their plans, they told new stories about their lives together. It’s hard to look into the faces I’ve loved for all their days and not see our shared past, but tonight we looked to the future.
 This is number 23 of a 31 day writing challenge. Please click here to follow the rest of the series. Thank you for joining me on this journey!