To spin the bottle or not

On the cusp of adolescence I was much more child than maiden. I still loved digging channels in the dirt and damming them up, playing Man from Uncle with my friends who were boys, and dangling from and scrambling about the jungle gyms.

But the 6th grades girls were changing, in the way 6th grade girls do. And one of their forbidden delights was to sneak off to play spin the bottle during lunch hour with willing 6th grade boys. Not the least interested in this game, I began to wonder how on earth I could make myself fit in.

So I brought my dilemma to my mother. And her response was this: "If you want to stay a child right now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. You just stay that way till you're good and ready. And you'll know when that is." Such permission was incredibly liberating.

And so I did remain a child for several more years, protected by the force field of a mother's love, beckoned gently toward adulthood by her uncanny wisdom.

To all who mother their children and others', the earth, or any of her creations, may you know what good you do, how enduring  the memories you create are, and the essential nature of all you do. 

Happy Mother's Day, one and all!

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