Wednesday's wisdom....

It will always be this way....

                                             Trust me.  It just feels like forever. These days do pass.

I can attest from the front lines that no matter what you may be going through - it will end and things will change.  Well, that's been my experience, so far.

Got kids? When my children were small, I felt like I saw more of the pediatrician than I did my husband.  They were constantly sick with ear infections, strep throat, colds, bronchitis and yes, pneumonia.  I began to think we could make a fortune if we bought stock in Kleenex and drug companies which produced antibiotics.

The days were endless. Like the Dowager Countess on Downton Abbey, I too wondered, "What's a week-end?"  Would the car ever go in any direction but the pharmacy or doctor's? Would there come a time when I could put away the thermometer and stop buying gallons of ginger ale?

During yet another trip to the doctor, while noting the drooping of my shoulders when he once again informed me one of the girls needed medicine, Dr. H pointed out that we were pretty much on schedule. On schedule?  Are you kidding me?  He went on to say that I should expect to see him, on average, every two weeks.  Once kids start attending school, this was the natural course of things.

I did the math, and with three school age children, this did not sound like good news to me.  But it made sense.  When I looked back at the calendars I kept, there did seem to be a pattern of sorts.  Each of the girls was coming down with something every few weeks or so.

Strange as it may seem, this information actually gave me both comfort and hope.  Because I also realized, that some day, my daughters would all graduate and leave school.  And the germs.  And we would stop going to the pediatricians every few days.

My girls are all grown up now.  If they are sick, they drive themselves to the doctor.  Those years of worry and tending to sick children are far behind me.  I don't miss that part.  At all.

That feeling - it will always be like this - can come to the surface when dealing with financial problems, health problems, storm damage, snowstorms, depression, and on and on.  For me, remembering that "this too shall pass" and that things (and kids) do in fact change, can help me to hang in there until it does.