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Monday, June 25, 2012

WORRY

Is there a magic cut off 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


I wanted to believe that, but I was

Haunted by my mother's warm 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

Life time 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 warm smile.


The torch has been passed.

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