It's a 'Mom' Thing....

Or is it???

I've had some time off, what with Mary Kay being in the hospital, and I got ALOT accomplished today. Mary came through her hip surgery just fine, and is hopefully on the mend now...

One thing I did was to go over & visit with Brian, Katie & Peyton for a bit. Brian just had MAJOR oral surgery on Monday. Had a wisdom tooth that needed to come out, however, it was grown into his jawbone, which means....right....he had to have a good sized part of his jawbone removed. I've been fretting ever since I found out he was having the surgery. I think it's a 'Mom' thing. He's fine, of course, although still quite swollen and sore, and he's supposed to go back to work tomorrow. He'll have to be extremely careful, as one wrong bite of food, or even a slight bump of his jaw can break it. I worry. In one's job, we have a tendency to just do what needs to be done, without a second thought that WE could get hurt doing said job. I'm hoping he'll opt for just one more day off to heal even a little more, but.....he's a big boy now, with a family of his own, so he will decide what's best for him....NOT Mom...LOL...

Jimmy and Shannon, in the course of their adult lives, have also been banged up and bruised. I worried about them then too, and when any of my kids are sick, I feel like the first thing I need to do is rush in and 'mother' them. Shannon had the stomach flu a few weeks ago. My first instinct was to rush right over to her place and sit with her, and wait on her hand and foot till she felt better. But I didn't. Instead, I told her to call me if she needed anything and I'd be right there. Literally. She just lives about a block up the street from us. She knew I'd come running if needed.

Jimmy, playing basketball recently, messed his foot up pretty good. At the time he was living in Escondido, but that didn't stop THIS mom from wanting to drop everything, go down there, take him to the Dr., and do whatever else was needed to help him along.

It's SO natural to want to be there for your kids, whatever their age, or stage in life. To kiss away their hurts, and to reassure them that all will be well. To tell them, 'No, I don't think you should do this', or 'No, I don't think that's the right decision....do it THIS way'...and the list goes on...but, as THIS mom has found, there comes a time in your life, and in the lives of your kids, when you must stand back and watch them fall, and make the wrong choices, and make mistakes that will follow them through the years. They make choices that you cannot 'fix' and mistakes that you cannot make 'go away', and any TRUE mother will tell you that, above ALL else, the hardest thing you will EVER do in your life is to take that proverbial step back and watch your kid's lives unfold in front of you, and NOT interfere, for that is how they learn. From their mistakes. They fall. Hard, sometimes. And our job, as a mom, is to be there to pick up the pieces when we can. Some pieces can't be picked up, and I suppose it's then that we take on the role of moral support and sounding board. Maybe that's what our grown kids need the most: moral support, encouragement, reassurance, advice, and maybe most important of all....a mom. It's a 'Mom' thing. I guess it'll never end, and I don't want it to.

So, to my children, I leave you with these thoughts: I thank God every day for you. I love the 3 of you beyond words. You have been such incredible blessing to your dad and me. I have loved being your mom, and I have so many happy memories of your childhoods. Please forgive me if I find it hard to 'let go'. Grown or not, you are still my babies, and will always be my babies, like it or not. :0) Forgive me when it seems that I'm trying to dictate to you what you SHOULD do. I'm really not dictating. I'm trying to outgrow it, so bear with me.

It's a 'Mom' thing......

Until next time, blessings to you!