Peer-Spective

Sometimes when we are stuck in a rubber room, bouncing off the walls, we forget to check the door handle. Most times, it's unlocked, we can step out, steady our gait and walk away.

Until the next time we open the door and let ourselves back in.

Wait. Back in? Why would we do that?

Take it from me. A little time in the bouncy house does not mean we're crazy. It means we care. We care about people. We care about situations. We just care. Maybe too much sometimes.

Of course, that means we are more susceptible to emotion when those things we care about go off on a path we don't like, we don't know or we aren't ready for. Then we bounce around a bit until we can cope.

Or a peer puts the situation in perspective.

At church yesterday, the woman in the pew behind me must have heard me talking before the service to one of the other ladies who wanted to know when Carter was leaving for college and how I was holding up. At the conclusion of the service, when we were waiting to file out, this older woman, who I don't know, says, "So you have someone going off to college?" And I gave my typical reply of "Yeah, my baby's leaving next weekend." She says, "Oh I know how you feel. But you know what's harder?"

And she went on to tell me about her two sons both serving in Iraq, one of them for two tours of duty. She expressed how difficult it was to not know where they were, what they were doing and, most importantly, if they were safe. She kindly reminded me that we will always be moms, always care, always be worried, but at least at college I will know where my son is. I still might not know what he is doing and if he is completely safe, but it is nowhere near the level of worry over a child who has gone off to war.

What a reality check, eh?

As the poem above reminds us all, no matter our complaints or emotional struggles, there is always someone who would feel blessed to have those same complains or struggles instead of what they are dealing with in their own lives.

So thank you, God, that our baby is grown up enough to want to continue schooling and make a career and future for himself. Thank you that he will be a mere 3 hours from home instead of half a globe away. And thank you that we switched to Verizon so he has no excuse not to call his mom every night to say "I love you."

OK, well, thanks for most of that anyway. Hopefully it will keep me out of the rubber room awhile.