Different ages but all in transition
I was with the children today. They range from 18 months to 8 years old. Kelly, a 3-year-old, doesn’t want her mum to leave and I surprise myself by saying, “Just leave her. If she cries for more than 5 minutes I will come and get you.” She did cry intermittently though settled once she got her mind on the train set. Sam, 18 months, also does not want his mum to leave but she does and after a loud cry he settles.
The others want to be tickled, chased, tell you about their holidays. There is so much life in the room and all at different stages. I am the assistant not sure I have the skill to keep them entertained. I improvise with a toy crocodile trying to entertain, it works for seconds. It is a contrast to the silence of the meeting across the way.
After the meeting has ended and we have drunk our tea the children decide to put on an impromptu show. Someone has arranged the seating in the library like a little theatre. I am impressed as I see friends come through regardless of age. They sing they dance , we clap and applaud their efforts. I feel a sense of community. We need the children as the children need us.
I was reading in the afternoon about the need for rites of passage as we go through life yet here we have abandoned many of them. I looked one group up that offers such an experience. I fancied it and then I heard ‘the quiet one’,
“You are already in a transition. You have no need to attend such a group. You are living a transition. And you know this.”
It is true yet I was seeking a fantasy world when I am in a real world transition. I live it as I have learned, one breathe at a time knowing that that which holds me guides me and will never leave or forsake me.
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