Saturday, March 24, 2012

One is Roots - The Other Wings

Yesterday a dear friend posted on Facebook that her twin boys had driven to school together for the first time. She expressed her happiness and her sadness.  Her boys were becoming more self sufficient.  Her post reminded me of a saying that has kept me going through my years of parenting:

There are two lasting gifts we can give to our children
One is roots
The other wings

This saying sat in my laundry room for years, and as I would be working I would reflect upon its meaning at that particular time in my children's lives.

I now have grandchildren and one day my daughter called me up.  As soon as she said, "Mom," I could hear the tears in her voice.  Her daughter was near a year and a half and had been in the process of weaning herself  and that day wasn't interested at all in her mother's milk.  My daughter was crushed.  She and I had talked about the saying I had  many times and so I quietly said it to her.  She said, "Oh Mom, I don't want my daughter to even have a feather."

I smiled to myself with the tears coming for both us now ---  thinking first we help our children put down roots so that eventually they can fly away.

3 comments:

  1. I love this part, "Their are two lasting gifts we can give our children, roots and wings." So, true and so wise. It's just so hard to let go. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. This was such a fabulous post - the wisdom of the saying, how you used it as a guiding light in your own life, and how your daughter (in her own way) responded to all that is bittersweet about raising children - we raise them to let them go. Thank you...now I need to get myself to the nearest box of Kleenex!

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  3. Great post. It can sometimes be difficult to nurture and give our children roots, but so much more difficult to release them. But with those roots, they always seem to come back home. Loved how your daughter shared her thoughts. Thanks for sharing.

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