Just when do you think you have it all figured out?

Just want to share a little Friday wisdom with y’all – I was out having a walk to clear my head and I was thinking about the fact that I have lived here in the UK for 20 years (you will have seen the lovely passport photo posted a few weeks back taken at the time of my departure). Unthinkable when I first boarded that plane for my two-year work placement all those years ago. It was only supposed to be for two years!

But I started to do the maths on how old my Mom and Dad were when I left – my Mom would have been 50, which is only (ahem…) a few years older than I am now. I remember when I left thinking how wise my parents were and that they must know so much more than I could ever imagine. And that they kept telling that spreading my wings was a good thing and I went with their blessing (albeit in a blaze of tears).

During these last 20 years, whilst traversing the ups and downs of marriage, divorce, children, work, illness, and health – I have always thought of my parents as being the best source of wisdom.

So the other day, I told my Mom about the fact that she wasn’t much older than me when I left. And half-jokingly said,”I remember thinking you were so wise but I now realize you were only a few years older than me!”. We both laughed and she said “I am still trying to figure it out!” and we laughed even more as I assumed that she was even more knowledgeable in her advancing years. And she just said “you are always figuring it out”.

This morning, I caught myself scolding myself over something that I seemed to feel I should have known better than to get it wrong and thought about my Moms words “you are always figuring it out”.

So I decided I wasn’t doing it wrong, I was learning to do it right.

So my words of wisdom – thanks Mom and Dad! – is that you are always figuring it out – it is part of the ride.