Tomorrow Always Comes

If you’re a parent, you know exactly what I mean when I say that there is no more difficult (but, at the same time, rewarding) job in the world.  As adults, we’ve sat through life’s toughest “classes,” taken it’s hardest “courses,” and endured it’s nastiest “professors.”  We’ve seen the materials and want nothing more than to rush in front of our kids and catch them before they enter the class room.  We want to take them aside and show them exactly what to expect, where they’re most likely to trip up, and how they can get an A when life wants to get a D at best.

The height….the absolute height…of frustration is when they nod to a parent and say, “Nah, I got this one.”  Or, give you a look that says, “You have no idea what it’s like out there.”  Out there being the real world, because parents surely don’t live there, do they?

I’ve been very, very blessed with my own daughters.  I can count on one hand the number of times they’ve side-stepped me and my proverbial cheat sheet - and I don’t even need the thumb.  Very blessed.

However, even if it happened only once - it’d be one more time than I’d have wanted.  Don’t get me wrong, I want each of my girls to have their own mind - I want them to think for themselves and make decisions based upon what’s right and what makes them happy.  Not what’s right according to mom and not what makes mom happy.

It’s just tough as a parent to know when to pull back, you know?  On the one hand, we realize that they have to take the toughest courses, face the toughest teachers, and sometimes even fail.  That’s life.  And unless we somehow place them inside of a 1950s sitcom, we can’t make everything around them perfect.

This is an area I admit struggling with.  And I think that it’s because my daughters and I are so incredibly close.  We’ve been through a lot in life - our family (on both sides) has had more than it’s share of illnesses and losses.  We’ve also moved a lot more than most families ever even dream of.  The upside of it all has been a very closely knit family.  Because of that closeness, I find myself wanting desperately to guard them against every single discomfort life has in store for them.

Fortunately I’m usually a reasonable person - so I can see the absurdity of that. (”Usually” is laughing, that’s why it appears to be falling down.)

Anyway, one of the main lessons I’ve always tried to drill into my daughter’s heads is the one who’s course is taught by Professor Tomorrow.  It’s easy to get caught up in today, in the here and now, and not realize the plain truth:  Tomorrow not only always comes, it’s wearing the clothes we dress it in today.

Unfortunately, that’s a truth that’s hard enough for us to keep our minds wrapped around, let alone young people who haven’t seen as many “tomorrows” as we have!  It’s, in fact, probably a truth that we all need to cozy up to more often.  I know I do - it’s an area I admit to struggling mightily with.  I generally don’t see past my own nose, but I’m trying to get better.  Just about every problem we run into in our lives is because of a failure to do something differently the day before, the week before, the month before, etc. 

• The kitchen’s a mess - we didn’t do the dishes the night before.
• The Levi’s are too tight - we didn’t exercise often enough.
• We’re behind at work - we weren’t as diligent with our work as we were our play.
• We run out of money - I….(er, I mean we)…spent more than we should have at the mall…or, um, wherever.

When we touch today, tomorrow feels it. 

There’s Always Tomorrow Mini Poster
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