Brrr! MomaG picks me up on Sunday’s to go to church. I don’t drive, but that’s another story. Usually I go outside 5-10 minutes before she gets there to enjoy the sound of birds singing, wind blowing in the trees and the sunshine. Not yesterday. It was 31* w/ a windchill of 20. I watched out the window for my family taxi to pull up, then hustled to the car. It was just as cold when I went to church last night. And this morning the temp was 18* when we left the house at 6:15. Now, I’ve been hot-natured all my life, but this is bordering on ridiculous. Mississippians are not accustomed to these temps. Maybe it won’t last too long.

The girls & I have this new thing we’re doing this year. Once a month, on a Saturday that fits everyone’s schedule, we’ll go to a different house. This past Saturday we went to Laurie’s. I supervised while Katey&Molly straightened & cleaned Laurie’s house. She left her bedroom one time mumbling something about “cleaning Nazis”. But she was really grateful for the help getting her room rearranged before Marlee’s debut. When they come to my house they’re going to hang pictures and organize some books. We’ll do different things, even go out to eat & shop. Sometimes MomaG will join us. This is a great idea they came up w/ during Christmas at our house. We haven’t had enough “girl-time” the last few years.

Molly called one afternoon to talk through some of her challenges as a teacher. The biggest one seems to be that parents want to be their childrens’ friends. She asked, “Why didn’t you & daddy want to be our friends?” I said, “You had plenty of friends, and that wasn’t the assignment God gave us.” Are parents afraid to say “NO” to their children now? Are they afraid of confrontation? Is it too bothersome, or inconvenient, for parents to discipline by ‘grounding’ or timeout when they’re younger? Parenting takes time; and yes, it’s sometimes inconvenient. But if you didn’t want to go to the trouble, why did you have kids?

Now that they’re adults, the girls & I can be friends and it’s a wonderful relationship, made all the sweeter because of the parent/child relationship we once had. Yes, it was tough sometimes and we made some big mistakes, but no psyches were damaged and they’re all three functioning, reasonable, successful young women who love God and their families – including their mean old parents