Vacation??

    Well this was unexpected, the week presented me with lots of  middle-age musings starting with the arrival of some of Golfer's family, including his mom and sis. They came to join us for our annual pie party and a few days at the shore.  His family is great but because it's me, I expected that I'd have my moments when I was tired of being around folks and would have to take myself off for a self-imposed time out.  What I wasn't expecting is to be presented with the musings of being firmly entrenched as a member of the 'inbetween' generation.
    It started with my kid.  When you're a parent and you witness your child going through the necessary steps towards adult hood, there are moments when it tears a piece of your heart.  When they are past the teen years it takes a different form because now you must watch them go/grow through changes of the heart.  It pretty much sucks when you see someone you love in emotional turmoil.  You can hug them and let them know you are there for them but there's no getting around the fact that they have to go/grow through it themselves and find their own path. This was pretty much how the beginning of the week started as the offspring worked through changes in his personnel life. I'm here to tell you that I spent many an hour trying to figure out how to stay out of it and help all at the same time.  I see a huge part of my role as a parent helping my kid to avoid my mistakes - he has his own to make - but you can't really help anyone avoid the risks of the heart.
    The rest of the time was spent trying to understand the way we age and the choices we all make as  time passes.  It really hit home that if you don't take risks when you are younger, you are going to be petrified to take them when you are older.  If you make excuses not to do something that interests you because you might fail when you have the energy and faculties to face that failure, there's no way in freakin' hell you're going to be able to find the energy later. It makes me want to face each day with a list of things I want to accomplish and a positive attitude.  Sounds a bit Polly-Anna when I type it but it really is the truth. If you paint everything you do negatively, it becomes who you are.... there's a quote from Buddha somewhere....found it:
"All that we are is the result of what we have thought.  The mind is everything. What we think, we become."
Yeah, there's the quote of the day!
     The week did afford me the opportunity to read and I've worked my way through a few books.  Next post will be catching up on the Read and To-Read lists.