I was watching a show on T.V. the other night called, ‘Swamp People’, a show about swamp men thinning out the swamp of an expanding population of alligators. Alligators are very dangerous animals and I believe that some even consider them to be prehistoric beasts. It is a very dangerous way to make a living. Swamp people have their own dialect and way of speaking that makes me chuckle from time to time. The other night the show was different, instead of the usual, showing how they get their quota of alligators, it showed a dating scene. A rather elderly (probably 50ish) and single swamp man was getting ready for a date and his friend was encouraging him by helping him get ready. It so happened that this man never wore shoes and when necessary he cut his toenails with his pocket knife. His friend talked him into getting his feet and toenails done by a woman who would come to his house to do it. He was planning to be barefoot on his date as his feet were as tough as alligator skin. She had to use a rasp to clean off all the old dead skin on his feet before she did the nails. While his nails were being done he and his friend were carrying on a friendly conversation. His friend asked him why he hadn’t ever gotten married and why he hadn’t been on a date for over two years. His response was, “I’ve had other things to do and besides that, You have to let the universe do its thing.” In other words, ‘When there is a woman out there that wants to go out with me, the universe will make it happen.’ That would be a good line for a guy out of work and not looking, and other human problems, “You have to let the universe do its thing.”
Raising kids is sometimes like that, when they get to a certain age, their curiosity, their need to discover, causes them to try (do) things that parents never know about (and don’t want to know about). We have a pretty good idea what they are up to because we went through the same stages ourselves (maybe a little different but not much different). Of course, our kids don’t know that at the time, in their minds we have always been adults. Many times we just let them go knowing (hoping) that they will come home in one piece, physically, socially and spiritually. They may come home broken hearted or wondering how they ever survived that experience. We, as their parents, just have to hope and pray, it’s kinda like, ‘letting the universe do its thing.’
My daughter keeps a blog and she recently expressed a similar thought. She wrote: “In our part of the world we have a popular amusement park. It is the closest thing Utah has to Disneyland. It’s called Lagoon! We went every year when I was growing up. The park would send discount tickets to our church, and we’d get to go and save a little money. …Some of the families had lots of kids, so getting a discount for admission was a big deal, and it was expensive enough that most families only took their kids once a year. At least I thought that, but it might not even be true. I know that we only went once a year. Anyway, I loved this event, and looked forward to it for most of the summer. I couldn’t wait to ride the scariest rides. Or see how many times I could go on the fast ones. I have such good memories of summer trips to Lagoon. I even worked there one summer right after high school. That was a blast because I could stay after work and ride. I could go on my day off and ride, all at no cost, because I worked there. It was so fun!
Then something happened. I started not feeling very well after I rode the rides. You guessed it. I was getting older, and what I remember happening to my dad, (he threw-up) and other older people was now happening to me. It worked out though. Here’s why, by the time I wasn’t enjoying myself very much on the rides, I had become a Mama of my own kids. The first time I saw my little boy Riley on Bulgy the Whale, tears came to my eyes to see his happiness, his complete joy at what he was experiencing was sooo much better to me, then the experience of riding the rides myself. I had a similar experience with Christmas. Watching my kids open their presents, was better than any Christmas I had as a child. Being a parent and watching my children experience life, especially the good things in life, is the best! It’s not my favorite to watch them struggle.” But, we just have to, ‘let the universe do its thing.’