This might be the last time I post on the topic of grown children because I don’t have a lot to add to my many earlier posts. Still, the recent holidays had me reflecting on my adult children again.
I posted about my two grown children after Christmas 2018, when my husband and I celebrated Christmas with them. It was just the four of us, for maybe the first time ever—no grandparents or other relatives, our first and last Christmas in the house they grew up in. I wrote that year that they made our holiday meal, filled up our cars with gas, and otherwise behaved like responsible adults.
We recently celebrated Christmas 2021 together again. This time, both children brought their significant others, and we all trekked to spend the holiday with my husband’s mother, who lives by herself about 90 miles from our home.
Our son and his wife made two holiday meals, though my daughter and I bought the ingredients because the cooks arrived the night before Christmas Eve when their turkey dinner was served. Our daughter drove us to my mother-in-law’s home, because our daughter doesn’t like how we drive. She made our Christmas morning breakfast, and our son and his wife repeated their culinary success with beef bourguignon.
And again both kids filled our gas tanks during their visit.
Moreover, both children continue to behave responsibly about the pandemic, as I wrote in April 2020. Our son and daughter-in-law brought several COVID-19 test kits and tested themselves before the trip to see Grandma. And our daughter’s boyfriend made sure we knew he’d had a potential COVID exposure, though it turned out he had not been. And both kids remind my husband and I regularly to be diligent in our mask-wearing and other precautions.
So far we are all healthy.
Beyond their recent visit, I have been impressed with our children’s endeavors during the past year. My daughter has used the pandemic time to work on an advanced degree in her field, and she will finish the degree in March. My son and his wife have embraced home ownership and landlord status and learned to make all the repairs and refurbishings that those statuses require.
All in all, I am happy about my grown children and their life choices. Some of their choices are not what I would choose, but they have their reasons, and I cannot complain.
Not unless I want them to complain about my choices.
Because I have learned that now that my children are grown, I must let go. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Plus, I have to remember that the next step is for them to conclude that their parents are in their dotage, and they must step in to care for my husband and me.
I’m hoping that step is many years in the future.
How do you feel about your grown children?
