Changes

Wow, has it really been 6 months since I've posted anything?

Looking back, I can't pinpoint a reason why. Sometimes the river of life runs too deeply to babble about.

Today my second-born turns 21 years old. Twenty-one. (I'm pretty sure I was 8 when he was born!) In the past year of his life, he has entered a bad relationship, grown, and exited it. He has returned to college full-time while still holding down a 32-hour/week job. He has pursued challenges, knocked on doors, made choices, found a new relationship, stayed with the old job, loved his family, hated his job, and laughed out loud. Ever impulsive and hungry for new horizons, he has opted to remain where he is for now, learning and stretching his brain while ignoring the chafing in his spirit to move quickly. Has it been a good year? It's been a growing year. How could that not be a good thing?

Tomorrow my first-born moves 200 miles farther away from us. His job offered him a transfer to Chattanooga, a city he has never seen. In the past year of his life, he has struggled with a broken heart, hated his living situation, loved his job, moved to a new place with a new good friend, asked questions, pondered life and the unfathomable female mind, commiserated with others, smiled quietly, squirmed under the weight of no future direction, and actually laughed out loud a few times. Never the impulsive one of the family (his brother had that one locked up), he is suddenly picking up his roots and moving on, heading out to meet the unknown challenges of life face-first, head up, shoulders squared. It's been a tough year, but he has grown. How could that not be a good thing?

The other family members and I have also faced changes, growing changes... but these are the big ones staring me in the face at the moment.

A popular song proclaims, "Time may change me, but I can't trace time."

But maybe we can trace time.

Just look for the growth rings.