March 10, 2013

Dear Diary, Lenny and I struggle every Sunday. Its family day and our children and grandchildren are hundreds, if not thousands of miles away. While we're thrilled that they're independent and living full, interesting lives it hurts that we are not able to see them more often. Lenny is a fixer. His idea is to build a compound and house them all in close proximity to us!  Some families are able to manage that type of an arrangement. In this farming community it's actually quite common for children and grandchildren to live on the same property as their parents. Or close by. On Sundays I'm jealous of that. I want to gather our children and grandchildren in as a mother hen gathers her chicks (that's from the Bible). At our phase of life it feels like that's the rite of passage we have lived for. It's what we deserve! But it's not to be. Ouch! Sometimes we fall into self pity and think that because we were less than perfect parents with "broken families" we have some how sealed our fate. Of course that's baloney. Lots of young people move away from their families.  It's normal and healthy. But bittersweet. If you do your job well, your children tend to leave you! So on Sundays Lenny and I generally decide to spend time with each other. We go to Starbuck's, grab two Skinny Vanilla Lattes and take a leisurely Sunday drive. We plan and cook a Sunday Supper. We sometimes take a long walk. We work on projects, together or separately. We talk about our kids and sometimes phone or Skype or FaceTime with them. We move on!