February 2018...the month of LOVE

My world changed dramatically in August 2016 when my youngest child went away to college. I became a mom when I was 20, and raising my little boys was busy and fulfilling. Now that they're adults, they are my best friends, and as each one moved out, there was a hole in my life. I miss our deep conversations and cooking together. They don't need me anymore and I am trying to figure out my purpose. But life has a way of filling in those empty spaces, and I am busy with my parents and my uncle (grocery shopping, doctors appointments), my piano students and my church. I am grateful my husband is retired, that my step-sons live nearby, my sister moved closer, and we have treasured time with my parents. It is surprising that as my parents get older, I feel as protective of them as I do my children. Life is such an interesting journey, always changing. Our country seems so angry, and everyone I know is angry about something (politics, insurance, religion--name a topic and things get heated). There is little national focus on kindness and caring, hope or inspiration, even though it is evident all around me, we mostly hear about awful or cringeworthy things. God knows what we need: Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.