Don’t Worry

Telling a parent “Don’t Worry” is a nice gesture but wasted breath. If you’ve ever been a parent you know it is true. It isn’t until you become a parent that you truly appreciate your own parents.

Is there an imaginary cutoff period when offspring become accountable for their own actions? Is there some wonderful moment when parents can become detached spectators in the lives of their children and shrug, "It's their life," and feel nothing?

When I was in my twenties, I stood in a hospital corridor waiting for doctors to put stitches in my daughters hand and I asked,
'When do you stop worrying?' The nurse said, 'When they get out of the accident stage.' My Parents just smiled faintly and said nothing.

When I was in my thirties, I sat on a little chair in a classroom
and listened as the teacher told me my daughter had to be put in time out. My frown made the teacher smile. As if to read my mind, she said, 'Don't worry, they all go through this stage it will pass then you can sit back, relax and enjoy them.' My Parents just smiled and said nothing.

When I was in my forties, I spent a lifetime waiting for the phone to ring, the car to come home, the front door to open. A friend said,
'They're trying to find themselves. 'Don't worry! In a few years, they'll be adults. 'They'll be off on their own. They'll be out of your hair'
My Parents just smiled and said nothing.

By the time I was 50, I was so tired of being vulnerable.
I was still worrying over my child, but now there was a new wrinkle..
Even though she was on her own I continued to anguish over her failures, be tormented by her frustrations and absorbed in her disappointments.. and there was nothing I could do about it.
My Parents just smiled and said nothing.

My friends said that when my kids got married
I could stop worrying and lead my own life. I wanted to believe that, but I was haunted by My Parents' warm smiles and their occasional, 'You look pale. Are you all right' ?
'Call me the minute you get home'. Are you depressed about something?'

My friends said that when I became a Grandparent that I would get to enjoy the happy little voices yelling Grandma! Grandpa! And I do!
But now I find that I worry just as much about the little ones as my big ones. How does one cope with all this Worry?

Can it be that parents are sentenced to a lifetime of worry?
Is concern for one another handed down like a torch to blaze the trail of human frailties and the fears of the unknown? Is concern a curse or is it a virtue that elevates us to the highest form of earthly creation?

One time my daughter became quite irritable, saying to me,
'Where were you? I've been calling for 3 days, and no one answered.
I was worried.' I smiled a warm smile.
The torch has been passed.

~Author Unknown

Instead of telling your parents, “Don’t Worry” consider telling them, “Thanks for Worrying,” instead. Remember, those annoying little worries only mean they love you with all that they are.