The Adventuress Seeks

To parents who have or have had six and seven - year - olds, do you find yourself frequently frustrated, or is it just me?    As I sit at Starbucks and watch a mom loading her 18 - month son in the car ,  she playfully lifts him high in the air for a smile, kisses him and repeats.  I reminisce on the relationship I had with Koa when he was that age – the playfulness, silliness, tenderness – it was pure love.  Any wrongdoing was seen as a teachable moment.  Patience was of abundance, relatively speaking.  Same with my relationship with  Kalea  (10.5 months). Although she’s an easy - going baby, she’s BUSY and a little demanding. Still, patience comes fairly naturally since she’s so new.     I miss that with Koa.  As I reflect on this morning (and most mornings this week), my own voice echoes in my mind, a stream of directions, increasing in volume and irritation with each repetition. As each  of my  re...

Every Friday I have a standing writing date with my friend Char.  Before we write, we spend a few minutes catching up and discussing possible writing topics.  This morning part of our discussion of family and prior writing topics illustrated the common characteristic shared by all; the experiences from our past that influence our interactions in the present.  We discussed several different scenarios we’d witnessed lately where it was undeniable that each person’s past had impacted who they are today and how they interact with the people around them. Char in her wisdom, “Anger is a choice. [Person A] had a hard childhood and has chosen to be angry. [Person B] had a hard childhood also, but decided to overcome it with continued hard work and therapy.”     Even those without large childhood traumas have experienced pain. Char said she likes to picture everyone as having backpacks and that its easy in casual friendships to choose to take out an item fro...