A very recent photo of my daughter and me at a restaurant last weekend (ok, we're in the parking lot). My sister-in-law took the picture. We had driven to Busch Gardens Williamsburg (a 4.5 hour drive) to see my daughter perform in the orchestra of Rejoice! one of the holiday offerings at the park.
The photo shows two adult women. The me I strive to be is the mother who recognizes that fact. I am notorious for seeing my daughter as the unruly teenager who made everyone's life a challenge - far more than any of us anticipated. She hasn't had an easy life. But she's in her 30s now, has 4 kids, and is trying to make stability a priority.
We've really had our struggles over the past 20 years or so, and I've tried, always, to guide her in the *right* direction...of course, the *right* one for me, isn't the *right* one for her necessarily. Over the past year, I've come to realize that I didn't care for the "interference" of my family in my decisions when I was her age, and that of course, she wouldn't appreciate mine in hers. And so more and more I've been "letting go" on that, giving her the space to make her choices, without my domineering *guidance.*
That photo above shows two women who love each other. I think we're both working on the "...and respect each other's choices" part...and being a bit more successful this year than before.
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