musings

This certainly isn't a new thought... many have had it before and will have it after me. Some have described it with much more elegant words than I can.

The torch is being passed, a generation is gone or moving on. The children who were playing in the streets yesterday are being looked to today to bear a burden with a steady hand and strong shoulder... and the thought tears at their lungs and leaves them gasping for breath. But they've had wonderful sturdy people to look to and they have access to the same source of help that every weak and faltering human through the ages has always had access to. None have been perfect but their knowledge and admission of that fact and then finding help that is beyond them have made them fit for the task. And it will be like that for this next generation.

Every year brings changes- most keenly felt when the change involves loss. One of the most deeply satisfying things in my life is seeing the kids I knew maturing and changing and filling the places left empty by the deaths of the older faithful souls who used to surround them. Truly, it is joy and sorrow interwoven. Sorrow for the loss which we continue to feel but joy when we see growth in others because of it. I have a list of every baby, child and teenager and the age each was when I was in their area. I look at from time to time. I love those kids. I wish them all the best.