My Thoughts On Dying, Parenting Teens and Caring For Aging Parents

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about aging. I've been helping with my parents who both went through different surgeries recently and are both recovering. They are in their 80s. In fact, today is my dad's 86th birthday. Watching them makes me realize a lot of things about life.

Meanwhile, I've been noticing a lot of gray hairs and other aging issues with me and my hubby. While this is alarming, I am coming to terms and learning about aging and death.

In addition to this, I am watching my children grow and become who they are created to be (I hope). My middle daughter is learning to drive, and my oldest son will have to register for the draft next year (I saw the packet in the post office this morning, and it alarmed me) While I knew the day was coming, I'm not prepared. My youngest is 10, double digits. I no longer have littles in the house, and this took a lot of adjusting for me.

I don't mean this in a negative, depressing way. But, I realize that the time between birth and death is a  blink of an eye, even though the days seem to drag on. It's just the way it is.

So, as I learned to embrace every step of my children's lives, I am now learning to embrace their developing wings to fly, my own mortality, and watching my parents age.

I don't have all the answers. I believe there is an eternal life after this one, but I stll don't have all of the answers in understanding pain and death on this side of heaven. I do trust that God knows all and has a plan. I also realize that it's so strange how the years seem so long when you're looking ahead at your life, but like a breath when you're looking at the memories.

So, what does this have to do with homeschooling? Well, everything I guess.

The reason I teach my children at home - well, there are several reasons - but, one of them is to spend time with my kids, to be the most important influence in building their foundation. I am noticing that at some point, I take a step back and watch them fly on their own. It's not that I'm overprotective. I never have been over protective really. It's just that, my dream as a little girl was to be a mommy or a teacher. I am now fulfilling both dreams, but the dream is coming to fruition. I'm not ready to let loose, but I know it's the healthiest thing to do.