For the past hour plus, I’ve been sitting on my comfy chair with Cagney snuggled up against me. I’ve been reluctant to begin writing because one of my kids has been playing their acoustic guitar while singing Beatles tunes.

As a parent there are few things more awesome then enjoying your child find the thing that brings them joy. It is especially rewarding when it is something that you, as the parent, also love.

My kids all continue to have individual life journeys that are truly and purely their own, not mine. Finding yourself is a lifelong process that begins with the torture of adolescence.  

I still recall vividly many angst-filled difficulties of my teens and young adulthood. My kids have each had their own hoops to jump through and hurdles to navigate.

As a parent, I’ve tried to help them figure it all out by running alongside them rather than always clearing the path ahead. Sometimes the impulse to make things easier takes over. Sometimes the running alongside works as it is meant to and they begin to steer their own course. Of course, there have been a few crashes along the way for all of us

In the end, I think we all learned from the crashes and came out stronger on the other side.

Or at least that’s what I tell myself to keep up my belief in myself as a parent.

And that is exactly why I was reluctant to focus on my writing. I was is a mesmerized state of being. This music coming out of my child who had never picked up a guitar before 3 years ago and now has found their personal groove had me in a trance.

This is what the journey is about.

Don’t forget to STOP and listen.

Listen to your inner voice.
Listen to their inner voice.

Be the guide. Be the lamppost.

Let them decide their destiny and the road they will travel.

Because when they find it and begin to learn what they need for themselves. . . it can be miraculous to watch them become what they are meant to be.

336 Days to go.

#OTR50