I am riding the train back to Los Angeles right now. I arrive at midnight and have a slight idea of my arrangements in getting home from Union Station. With all my family in San Diego and only myself in LA, my life is made smoother by the kindness of good friends that respond to text messages and FB status updates.
Maybe it's living on the edge to you - to travel and not know what will happen at the midnight hour. I like to call it traveling on love and faith.
I am still on an adrenaline ride over an intense and full family weekend. There is much anticipation over babies being born within the next several weeks. There are tensions over first days of school and grandparents shuffling schedules to manage caretaking while parents juggle work schedules¦.
And this is only the pre-game.
Creating hoped for smooth transitions require many conversations that will go through tensions, confusions, clarifications, and encouragements challenging the family dynamic in being committed to one another. There is a trading of liaison roles and sometimes a goal feels like a relay race as we pass the batons. every finish line is in the name of "team family." The challenge is to love like an athelete.
Discomfort therefore is looked upon as something to press pass. Think of it as standing at the diving board aware that waiting will not make the water any warmer. At some point, you will have to work the nerve to get in the water.
Not everyone is equally skilled in communication and that is forgivable. Everyone at some point was clumsy nor had built enough patience muscle to have the strength to understand nor the reflex to act gracefully.
Not everyone is good. We have three year olds we must admonish to treat each other kinder. Saying sorry is painful through filters of stubborness. Sometimes a grown up needs a refresher talk.
Great plays, great landings, and races will be won, many will not be praised enough because life moves quickly meeting new challenges. Admiration and being appreciated will be one of those things to enjoy and accept without needing egos stroked. The thrill of experiencing new levels in the "family game" is enough.
What thrill can there possibly be in "family"? I'll tell you straight up that you've been sitting on the bench and not felt that thrill that trumps beating records, besting at a board or video game, or mastering a really fun technical piece on a musical instrument if you haven't overcome making a mistake turn into a lesson, creating a reconciliation that is creative and moving that it grows you and inspires others, or figuring out how to diffuse a bomb of conflict by cutting the correct wire in the nick of time to save the day.
Are you game?
JNET
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