It is 12:47 in the morning, I’m at the computer and have the desk top stereo cranked..listening to oldies..93.3 KIOA…the station I listened to before the station and I were oldies…

I worked 3 hours tonight…Alayna called in sick so 3 of us split up the time.  Working OT when you don’t have to work an entire shift is painless for me.

As I speak in generalities here, my intent is not to irritate..I’m merely presenting an observation….and my observations may be a bit skewed which I won’t get into as anyone who has read me before should be able to understand why I qualify my thoughts. 

The generation which belongs to my children, who have chosen to live life responsibly, really impresses me…in fact, I mentioned to one of them tonight that I wish I had been as squared away when I was that age.  They seem to know what they want and are going for it…Jenny asked me the other day if I had kids because I wanted them or because it was what I was supposed to do…zing…holy, Mother..they have us figured out.  Of course, I don’t speak for every 50-60 year old woman here but..ladies out there..isn’t it true…we carried around baby dolls and played house and barbies which taught us that we would get married and have children and probably get a job to help make money after the kids started school…perhaps we would be a teacher or a nurse…just like mom.  Some of us made our goal and some of us didn’t.  Ain’t no mountain high, ain’t no valley low, ain’t no river wide that could keep me from you… Kids now have impressive career goals..that isn’t to say that there aren’t kids of this generation who have adhered to the values that we grew up with and are living their lives just the same…I remember how important it was for me to get out there in the job market with only a year of bible college under my belt, yet the most important thing was to raise my children and be there for their boo boos and their support.  I see so many girls today who are after a career..hold off on the kids until they get the base firmed up and feel they are ready to take on the incredible responsibility of children….and then…..

Now that my kids have flown the coop, I’m so confused.  How did I do it all…especially being in this sandwich generation…is it any wonder the percentage of this generations that must rely on anti-depressants or one of the awful habits like drinking, smoking and/or overeating to get them out of bed and thru the day.  I never had my time…It never ocurred to me that these expectation I was living up to were of my own creating…I was my own worst enemy.

I  do find fault with this constant structured life that children have now…but what are these kids going to grow into…Is this structured play time, constant movement spending every night at the ball field, music lessons, dance…is this healthy..will these kids grow up with an imagination … will they know what to do with themselves without some type of structure…will they be creative or just programmed.  Every generation has their way…I raised my kids different than I was raised and I’m sure they will raise their children different than they were raised and so on.  Perhaps if a child knows that he/she is loved, truly loved and wanted, everything will be okay…. same with us parents of adults…we need to know that we are truly loved and wanted… I hope each generation returns the favor.

Until next time….