Sitting on the garden swing, taking in the end-of-the-summer flower show. The bees are taking advantage of the blooms, as well. And I found another small eggplant in my garden! Score!! My kids and granddaughters shared lunch with me today. What a blessing they all are. I was able to spend some time individually with John and Laura this weekend, talking about everything and nothing, the conversations special in their ordinariness . When your children are small, and then older, and then young adults, you worry that, as they grow into adulthood, you will lose the closeness you shared during their childhood. As the cycle of life progresses, they move into their own lives, careers, relationships. You see them make mistakes you wish you could have warned them away from but know that those very mistakes strengthen them. You hurt when their relationships don’t go as planned. You feel the joy of the accomplishment of their goals, in their own good time. You are proud of the individuals, the treasures, they have become in your life, and in the lives of their world. You know – hope – that their life’s journeys are travelled with your voice in the back of their mind, knowing that even when we made mistakes, we were encouraging them, loving them, always loving them. And you then find that, as adults, the love you have for them, the time they choose to spend with you, strengthens and encourages you. And you still worry about them, at least as much as when they were small children and you hugged the fears and “ouchies” away. . .And you love them. . . Music and laughter, blessings and hugs.🎶💕🙏