As a mother and a grandmother.......

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There are more times than not, when as a mother, you wonder if you did everything you possibly could to raise your children right.  Every time there's a crisis.......every time one of them cries because of a broken heart, a broken promise, you wonder, is there something you could have said to them that would have made them immune to those things.  Realizing of course, that the pain in life, is what helps us all understand and appreciate true joy.

As a mother, and now a grandmother, I have a fierce,

very intense need to protect my "babies" ...  I do realize how irrational it is that I want to protect them all, from everything in life that can hurt them--but it doesn't stop me from wanting to.  And yet, I know full well, that my own times of pain were the beginnings of new understanding, hopefully a little wisdom, and a greater ability to have compassion for others, as well as contentment with the real blessings of life.  Today, it is a phone call from a daughter telling me of some amazing achievement she's made in her life that matters.  Today, it is one of my grandchildren looking at me and telling me she loves me that matters.  Today, it is a phone call from my best friend, just because she wanted to hear my voice that matters.  Today, it is knowing that in my universe, I matter to people who truly care about me.......that is my wealth, and my greatest achievement in life.....not where I live, or what car I drive, or what designer whatever I just bought.

On the other hand....lol....I am as guilty as any other, in being lured (temporarily) by the marketing that bombards us, screaming in our ears that we "NEED" this or that......but, now being older and beginning to show the signs of age, I finally realize that no matter what makeup I buy, or moisturizer I use, I'm still my age, and will still continue to age.......I won't magically wake up one morning and look like that model I saw on the tv commercial the night before.  It still bothers me a bit, but thankfully with age, you begin to truly accept  yourself, and appreciate your own life, and not worry that everything is perfect in your life.  I have been blessed beyond measure, and that is what I try to focus on, rather than what is supposedly missing according to the marketing "experts". 

My only regret is that I can't plant that same outlook in my children and grandchildren so they can skip over the years of insecurity, worry, and searching for the "right" answer to whatever plagues them at the time..........and yet, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that like me, they will "arrive" at a place of understanding for the things that truly matter.