The Pain of Aging

So here I sit, reflecting on the lives of children grown... their issues, their challenges, and the pain of their time.

Our children are eternally our children, for better or worse. We do our best as parents, as elders of the clan, and hope that our influence has been positive and supportive, if not positively molding.

But the sadness in their eyes and the timber of their voices when they lose one of their own, is difficult to bear, and recursive questions come from within our own psyche.

Enough of this third person crap...

My boys have grown up to be incredible men and my daughters into amazing women! I've watched their friends grow too... And I've seen and felt, deep into the recesses of my soul, the pain of their challenges. From simple troubles with finances, jobs and love... To life changing challenges with their demons (alcohol, drugs, and deep emotional distress).

My children have survived their challenges and have grown to to be incredible adults, great parents, loving spouses, good role models. I am proud of them all!

But how I feel for them and the parents and families of those of my children's friends who have struggled with their paths and have lost their battles. Over the past two years, I've seen three young men leave us, as a result of their challenges and lost battles there. I've watched and listened to the voices of these kids, my children and their friends, now men and women, speak of their love for their fallen friends, through tearful eyes and trembling voices. I've seen them stand as confident men and women and bind together with their collective spirit to honor the challenges of their friends and soulfully raise their eyes toward the horizon of tomorrow.

I'm proud of them all. But my soul aches, as a parent, as an adult friend of yesterday's children, for the battles lost, and the pain and remorse carried forward in the living...

There's really nothing more to say, than "God bless them all... Keep them and watch over them and grant them peace"... ...my love is with them all...