Home Again! And some Thoughts on Mothering....

BTW, I've been gone, rather unexpectedly!

Our two oldest sons, as you might remember, left a month ago on a cross-country bicycle trip. 

Well, when they hit Nevada (it's Nuh-vaa-da, according to Nevadians!!), our second son got sick.  Going to the clinic in Ely, he found out he had viral pneumonia.  So, wisely, these two spent over a week in Ely resting and recuperating.

Then they rode 67 miles to Baker, Nevada.

And son #2 called saying he really wasn't improving, health-wise.  So Dearest Husband and I jumped into the car to retrieve him.

Sooooooooooo, there's the long story as to why I had a brief hiatus in the western United States viewing the beautiful vistas of southern Utah and the mountains of Colorado.  (And the rather less lovely west Texas.)

Driving!

Bringing the Bicycles Home

Rocks

Grand Basin National Park (Baker, Nevada)

I'm finding mothering adults something of a difficulty.  As the above story indicates, even adults still need mothering.  Gracious, I certainly needed my mother when I was going through a mastectomy and chemotherapy!

But it's harder for me than mothering younger children--or even adults.  It's hard to adjust, as much as I enjoy my (moderately) grown-up children.  They're fun to talk to and do things with and cook with and tease and all that great stuff! 

But it's hard to sometimes figure out how to mother AND treat them as young adults.

Sometimes they need a mother--sometimes a friend.  Sometimes they need advice--sometimes they need to learn their own lessons.  Sometimes they need nurturing--sometimes they need to tough it out.  Sometimes they need they need a little (or big) push--sometimes they need to learn how to do it on their own.

I just don't always get it right.