Chronicles of Nana

Babies come into the world seeking nurturing, food and love. Helpless and needy… parents strive to meet their every need, working tirelessly to raise them to adulthood when they will spread their wings and fly on their own….

PARENTHOOD…

However, once a parent always a parent…the parenthood sign is forever hung on our front door and in our hearts. Many things in life come with instructions however, becoming a parent has no book available on how to raise a child. I am the mother of five grown adults. Each one born much the same way…but each so very different from each other.

At first parents want to protect their children and keep them safe. Growing up is a long process that really does not have anything to do with age. For instance, some of the yougest people I know are the elderly and some people are just born “old.” Bring on other siblings and the testing ground of parenthood becomes complicated and downright scary.

FULLY DEDICATED…

Being a parent involved full dedication or something might get missed along the way. Parenthood requires on the spur of the moment decisions, judgments and disciplines. And as parent we learn as we go…

Mistakes happen and forgiveness is appreciated. Luckily most children have the heart to do so. As time goes by parental controls wane and disappear all together. Then, as parents. we do less but worry more…At this point we are left watching our handiwork shine. The good, bad and ugly!

PERSONAL REGRETS…

Speaking for myself, I was way too serious and busy to truly enjoy every waking moment of child raising. I was also too young, too stupid to chronicle in my mind the joys I was missing. The time went by so fast..and as I was living it I had no idea. I seek back to those times now and realize how unfair life can be… how unwise I was not to stop and hug more and enjoy the moments…

I fall upon my wisdom now in remorse in not realizing the importance of those long ago moments and the importance they play upon my life now. Perhaps my biggest mistake was protecting my children too much. I wanted them safe…I wanted them to know happiness and love…I wanted them to see the greatness in themselves.

LEARNING TO FAIL WITH GRACE…

However, I needed to teach them how to fail at a much earlier age. Small teaching moments, uncomfortable as they may have been, in order to prepare them more for the real world and the disappointments that lie ahead. Perhaps, no parents can truly teach that…

That is why, as a Nana and great Nana, I now find such disgust in the worldly nature of things. I am offended that it has become so hard to meet the obligations of parenthood nowadays. We still have the same 24 hours in a day, but the ways in life are spinning out of control and the pressures become unmanageable. How dare the undesireable ways of life interfere in the happiness of those I love!

So many outside influences that debase the sanctity of family…the foundation of life itself.

NO EASY TASK…

Parenting is not easy…I sit along the sidelines now watching the struggles of my own adult children. I am seeing in them what I once felt and relive so often. No longer in control but an observer as life twist and turns the lives of their children and grandchildren. Their choices in life glaring…our mistakes repeatedly naked before us…

One day we are left with just the memories…thankfully the bad of it wanes and the joys come forth and are remembered and relived once again.

Being forgiven and forgiving brings forth the forgotten joys and makes it sweeter and much more meaningful…

Thank the Lord for loving hearts and warm hugs!