After dropping off our son at college for the first time, my husband and I realized that all of us were about to begin a new chapter in life. When one member of a group dynamic moves on to a new season, everyone connected to that person must adjust as well.
That?s not a bad thing.
I know a woman who once said, ?I have a book of life, and I?m starting new chapters all the time!? The concept resonated with me as I began to reflect on past seasons of life and the transitions I?ve gone through.
Moving away from home for the first time.
Starting my first teaching job.
Getting married.
Buying a home.
Having a child.
Living with a child who has cancer.
Adjusting to life WITHOUT cancer.
Launching a new career.
Where do we get the idea that life will be predictable, static, or simple? Is it a hope we cling to despite empirical evidence to the contrary? Denial? Naïveté? And why, when we look back on the vicissitudes of life, would we even wish life to be unchanging when there is so much growth in the changes and in the connections we forge because of the changes?
I am determined, in my present chapter of life, to enjoy the characters, the dialogue, and all the twists and turns of the plotline until it?s time to turn the page on the next chapter. Then I?ll embrace that one, too.
How will you embrace your current chapter? How will you prepare for the next one?
