Turning the Corner

Sometimes I spend time waiting for something to arrive...counting down the days...willing it into existence...and then I turn a corner and there it is. Today is Friday...and I have Monday and Tuesday off as well. So, I have four days to fit in a lot of activity...but I'm very happy that I have it!

Countdowns are nothing new to me. I knew from 70 weeks out when Jill would graduate. I watched the weeks melt away, watched her accept her diploma, and have seen her off to college now for her sophomore year. Now I think about things like her graduation, eventual working life...and (hopefully) marriage to a wonderful man one day.

She will be 20 in January. There is something about turning that corner...from her teens to her almost adult life...that makes me want to slam on the brakes and pull the emergency brake simultaneously. I want time to slow down a little. Brian will be a senior in high school next year, and then Big Dave and I will be empty nesters.

I am hoping that as I turn every corner in the next few months and years...that I am pleasantly surprised. I hope that Jill's Mr. Wonderful is like another son to us. I hope that Brian's Miss Everything is receptive to his half crazy parents...specifically his mother. Yet I know that there will be some corners I will turn that I will want to turn around and run but cannot. There are some corners I will turn where I will walk straight into an abyss. The only thing I do know is that I won't be alone if that is the case.

All of us turn corners every day. We realize that the package of school pictures for our 11th grader is the last school pictures we will every receive as the next set will be his senior pictures. We wonder about meeting a young man that Jill is interested in because at this point he has the potential to be "the one." We replan our Thanksgiving menu because we realize that the "kids" are grown up (one married and another engaged) and think that they might want to bring something to the feast other than rolls or ice.

Sometimes we use the term "turning the corner" to describe someone who is having a health crisis...and we are relieved when they seem to be on the road to recovery. I think that it is accurate if the corner represents change...and we are hoping for the best now that we are walking into or toward what we previously could not see, know, or understand.

This past week, my pastor resigned to start his own church. The senior pastor is taking a study sabbatical. This is the senior pastor that replaced someone who had led our church for over 30 years. Sometimes we think - or hope - that things will be the way that they are going to be forever. However, life teaches us that this is not the case. Change is inevitable. But you know...I'm still standing there waiting (with a lot of people in the congregation I would assume) for what is around the corner. I do not fear it. I just want to know more about it. So, I will wait...like I assume the crowds do in line for a blockbuster movie or a book signing with a popular author. But eventually, we will turn that corner and walk.

So, while I am excited about turning the corner on a Friday night looking forward to four days of (hopeful) productivity...I am uneasy about knowing what is around the corner at church. I am excited about the possibility of Jill's future happiness...and I am stressed thinking that my son will be heading out of the next in about eighteen months. But you know...I think that we have these twists and turns...these corners on the road of life...to give us variety, and the opportunity to exercise our "faith muscles" and a chance to grow our hearts when others enter our lives.

Here's to turning corners...you never know what wonderful thing might be just around the bend...