Parenting Can be Harrowing

Let me start with an apology. I'm sorry that it's been so long since my last posting. I've been thinking it's been a few weeks but it's really over two months! I last posted on my daughter's 17th birthday and we've since had Thanksgiving and Christmas. If I don't post in the next couple of days we'll have New Years as well. Thanks to my friends out there who have encouraged me to pick up the pace a bit. I'll give it a better effort, I promise!

So, what new insight on parenting do I have to offer? Only this....it can be harrowing. I guess that's not new but it was brought home to me this holiday season. The event I'm specifically referring to occurred on the day and evening of Friday, December 12th. This was a day we were looking forward to as it was my daughter's Christmas Choir program. She is a senior and she had a solo at her last Christmas program. We had invited family and friends to enjoy the program with us. Friday morning I received a phone call from one of our sons in college in Abilene (a 7 hour drive away). Feeling unwell he was on his way to the hospital to be checked out. The clinic doctor thought it could be appendicitis or kidney stones. We started praying.

The crisis point in this story comes when our daughter, in Sugar Land, is singing her solo at the same moment our son, in Abilene, is having his appendix removed. During that moment I could only grip my husband's hand and pray. I feel choked up just remembering and writing about how helpless and frightened and proud I felt at that moment. We applauded and loved on our daughter then hopped in our car and drove to Abilene to be with our son who had kidney stones AND an appendectomy.

Parenting is often said to be the most difficult thing you will ever do. Some of the difficulty lies in the loss of control and helplessness you feel when they are ill. To be so far away when my child needed me was excruciating. Another part of the difficulty is the ways in which parents are pulled in many directions. As Bilbo Baggins said, "like butter spread over too much toast". Our daughter needed us to enjoy and celebrate her accomplishments as much as our son needed our strength and support during his surgery. Making those choices is agonizing. What on earth is a parent to do?

I'm reminded of the credit card commercials that make such use of the word "priceless" for that is what it is to turn these things over to God. "Priceless" is the feeling of knowing that I didn't need to be with my son for God was surely with him. I would get to him as soon as I could but God was always with him. The wonder of it is God was with me too. As much as I wanted to sob out my fears, God's peace held me together.

My daughter sang beautifully (you can see her performance on YouTube....search on "Leah Raye"), we had an uneventful trip to Abilene and my son recovered nicely. All's well that ends well, I suppose, but never let anyone tell you it's easy on the way. The only way to survive is God. His constant presence and loving care are truly "priceless".

Kathy