Parental Expectations

Several passages from The Jane Austen Book Club resonated with me as I read the book. One passage especially stood out:

All parents want an important life for their children - a happy beginning, a
happy middle, and a happy ending. No plot of any kind.

How true! I thought about my children - all three living distinctively different lives - and I realized that even though I want them to be happy, they have definitely laid the groundwork for the plot associated with their lives.

There is jealousy, happiness, strength, resentment, love, courage. There have been failed relationships, successful marriages, monetary struggles, personal expectations, careers beyond expectations, less than desirable jobs, death. But through it all, these mini-dramas have shaped them into the people they are today.

Granted, mom might not always like the direction they are headed, but at some point, you take a step back, let them fly on their own, and watch them write the plot.