What if...

Eldest snuggled up last night, and asked me a lot of what-ifs about college. Dozens and dozens of what-ifs: roommates and boyfriends and failing out and alcohol and you name it, it was on her mind. Some of the questions I answered, others I said, "Eh...you'd figure that out." For that's partly what college is, no? Finding out how to solve life problems on your own; messing up, and figuring out how to recover. Discovering who you are when you're standing on your own. And realizing that the way out of worry involves thinking in terms of probability, not possibility.

Gosh, but I love that girl! What if I'd never had her? What if I hadn't been given the gift of raising this marvelous human being? What if I hadn't been challenged to grow into a better person by becoming a mom? How much smaller and grayer my life would have been!