Take care of them

On my quest for dinner at a Pakistani dive tonight, which I discovered was closed (permanently, I might add) when I got there, I walked past the Mexican consulate. Hanging proudly from its facade, and flapping gently in the (unusually) cool summer breeze, was this:

La bandera mexicana

I lingered for a moment in front of the building, gazing up at that flag. I may or may not have lingered too long because I was invited to move it along by a security goon. I couldn't help but linger because Mexico is the country The Boy will soon call home for the next two years. I said a silent prayer for the people there. I prayed that they will take good care of our son. I couldn't help but wonder if his visa application, which has been approved (we think), had been processed inside there. I'm sure if it was that the earth moved for no one as they did it. But for us, the earth is moving pretty fast as we get him ready to go and meet the people who will watch over him as he serves.

As I walked away, thinking about the good people of Mexico watching over The Boy, I grew nostalgic and thought about my daughters and who has helped us take care of them. When Our Lady of Awesome brought Awesome home and he and I sat down for THAT talk between a future son-in-law and father-in-law, part of what we talked about focused on me insuring Awesome would take care of my girl. He's a good man and he's doing a great job doing what I asked him to do when we had that talk. I think of CAL and the circle of friends she has. I know she's found a group of young men and women who make her life an adventure (even if that involves the occasional ridiculous gun activity). Her friends are taking good care of her.

Now, please don't think our children are helpless. They aren't. I'm just feeling grateful tonight for all those people, known and unknown to us, who take care of them. While parenting comes naturally to some, it is not for the weak of heart, even when your children are older and doing big people things. You still worry and you're still glad there are folks to help you take care of them.

And for those of you keeping score, I recovered from the tragedy of the closed Pakistani joint and drowned my sorrows in a delicious bowl of drunken noodles at a Thai place. Seriously, who doesn't love that kind of goodness?!