I hope Memorial Day was pleasant for you and your families. Like Veteran’s Day and the Fourth of July, I also hope you joined me in feeling respect and gratitude when seeing each red, white, and blue flag gloriously fluttering in the sky. We are the recipients—the lucky—the
freedom holders. God Bless America.

I’m writing this after the state track meet, my granddaughter’s graduation and party, and a week before my grandson graduates from Sterling High School. My mind is full of beginnings, endings, achievements, and change.

Life comes in waves. It has been years since I received a graduation announcement from anyone but my grandkids. This year, I delighted in receiving several, which reminded me of life’s cycles. When our children are in school and participate in sports, we are busy and involved with few moments to ourselves. After graduation, they go to higher education or whatever they choose, and we experience a lull: time to sleep in, take walks, go fishing, and smell the roses.

Maybe they fall in love, marry, and have precious babies. If so, the cycle starts again.

Please accept my short-life scenario for what it is—generalized and noninclusive, but I hope you get the idea. Life loads us up and then gives us breaks. In my experience, both events create great memories and teach us lessons, helping us grow wiser as we shrink, lose the shine in our hair, and forget where we left our phones.

Life changes are rich, but most include an element of loss. Take graduation: we are thrilled to have them going off to new adventures, and we enjoy less laundry, cooking, and chaos. But we also miss the kids running in and out, keeping all the schedules going, and the chatter, laughter, and tears. In the quiet after their exit, we might vacation and work on projects to fill the void.

As I watched all the excitement of basketball, prom, college acceptance, graduation, and graduation parties, I realized the transition of families with young adults is not so different from retirement or losing a loved one. “Now what?”

I’ve always known life comes in waves, and if we don’t drown in the difficult times, we can recover, rest, and learn to enjoy the times when the waves stop knocking us down. Life is a ride, and rides can be smooth and enjoyable or involve detours, getting lost, or even collisions.

Memorial Day marked the beginning of summer fun, and I hope we all enjoy the ride and land on our feet so we can thrive and survive the next guaranteed wave arriving on our doorstep.

Until the next time: Live while you live.

Jennifer Goble, Ph.D., LPC, is the author of “My Clients…My Teachers,” and the blogger and writer of Rural Women Stories: www.ruralwomenstories.com.

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