Daughters

My wife and I are going to visit our single, young adult daughters this weekend. We live in Visalia, roughly in the middle of the state. We'll stop by Jeanette's for lunch in the eastern suburban Los Angeles area after about a three and a half hour drive. We will want to discuss arrangements with her. She is finishing up classes at a community college and getting ready to transfer to a four-year school. We'll then proceed down to San Diego and check into a hotel. Hopefully the presidential debate will go on as scheduled, since I'm looking forward to it.

Saturday morning we'll get together with Marie. That afternoon we'll see a matinee performance of a play at the Globe Theater she's stage managing. It's called "Back, Back, Back" and has a baseball theme. That is probably one reason she wanted me to see it. We'll likely spend some more time with her in the late afternoon before she has to go back for the evening performance. She is immersed in her chosen work and off to a good start on her career path. Then it will be back home on Sunday.

It's too bad how family arrangements change and make maintaining relationships more difficult. I suppose it is a natural part of life. Kids eventually move out and start lives of their own. That is a good thing, of course, since one of the main reasons you are raising them is to help them become capably independent. It makes me realize how easy it was to take for granted having them around the house for eighteen years. Now it's a big production to make connections.

The lesson for me is to cherish the times we do have together and to be grateful for the the wonderful relationship my wife and I have. When all is said and done, I'm feeling that a satisfying family situation is probably the best thing in life.