Surviving Immortality and the Adult Experiment

SURVIVING IMMORTALITY

With his back as an alarm clock, he wakes to yet another rainy morning. Dangling feet bedside,

he pops the cricks from his stiffened frame, and for a time, blurrily watches his left foot hanging weightless.

The light shines differently on the middle toe as it lazily leans on the outer one like a drunken companion staggering homeward after a pub crawl.

Ripped moccasins stand prepared to receive battered feet, and take him to the porch for his morning paper. Yes, it rained,

and the naked newsprint is soggy with black ink pooled on a sunken wooden plank.

He lays open the sports section on the kitchen table. It is all that is noteworthy on this day of crooked toes, wet newspapers…



and rain.

rainwriter jones

==============================

I'm preparing this blog for those of you with young children. You as a parent have as many developmental stages as your child. You not only watch them grow, but grow with them. All along the way, your babies are tugging to be free of your hold. They squirm; you hold tight: Trying to protect them from all the evils of the outside world. When you're at the point in life as I am, you no longer have "children," but "offspring." This can be more tenuous than having babies or small ones. They often make decisions which are contrary to yours which can make this time the most heart-wrenching.

I came to realize that you have to let go. Once your child survives the thoughts of immortality (nothing can kill me attitude) during their teen years, they must grow into their next stage of being an adult: A full-fledged adult in which they have the DUTY to make mistakes. It, indeed, is an ongoing experiment. Even at my age, I'm changing the direction of my plans to suit the circumstance. That's true life!

I found that I'm beginning to change places with my parents: Shaking my head at what my offspring are doing with their lives. Now I'm sure that they were doing the same thing in my regard. When I was 23, they watched me move in haste over a little spat I had with my sister, just to return before the next months' rent was due.

You won't know it until it's your turn to let go of a control that you've had for 18+ years. Your child will stop asking "if" they can do something, and tell you what they're "going" to do. A most tender time for parents as we balance the need to nurture, and our own want of having the freedoms once afforded pre-children.

*letting go of the proverbial tether...*

rainwriter jones @ 2 a.m.