The more things change...

It looks as though this year's trip is going to be put on hold until 2018.

Twenty-Eighteen. 2018. Two thousand, eighteen...No matter how your write it... it seems a long way off. But as I have learned, it does no good to wish your life away. It is something my mother told me countless times -- and now I finally get it. It is too bad it took this long to fully understand what she meant.

For the next 12 months (give or take a few) King and I will be sharing our home with a teen once again. (Never ever say never, remember).

For many years King and I were parents to our son's youngest daughter. Neither our son nor our granddaughter's mother were fully capable of taking care of a child. It is not that uncommon for grandparents to take on the care of grandchildren and I am seldom surprised at the number of grandparents who do.

When our granddaughter reached her most rebellious teen years she opted to live with her father and her new step-mother. It didn't work out as she had hoped and she is back with us, struggling to finish her senior year in high school after falling remarkably behind. Of course finishing school is more important than our trip. But that does not prevent me from occasionally emitting a heavy sigh. But self-pity gets no one anywhere and I find myself beginning to look forward to Senior Pictures, football games and maybe even a homecoming parade.

It really did not take a lot of soul-searching to come to the decision to open  our home to our granddaughter once again. The child (or young adult as the case may be) needed some help to move on to the next stage of her life -- whatever that might be. Our granddaughter's mother has been in and out of mental institutions in another state. The woman has some pretty serious problems. Our son has issues of his own. Her new step-mother does not like King and I. (What's not to like? We are such agreeable people...) I would be lying to myself and everyone else if I did not admit it has been a very rough summer. There is no need to go into detail.

So this past week I found myself driving our granddaughter to her first day of school. She is participating in an alternative ed program. The less rigid structure works well for her. She is also starting a new job. She is 17 and will turn 18 in February. When I was her exact age I was graduating from high school -- and did not turn 18 until two months into my freshman year of college. I was an adult and I was not an adult... pretty much in the same boat as she is now. Of course I'd like to think I had more maturity. I don't know if in reality I truly did.

It is an interesting time. The other day she asked to spend the night at a male friend's house. King looked at her and said, "I am pretty old-fashioned." Really King? Old-fashioned?  I don't remember that. I guess 40-some years kind of blurs the edges of memory a bit. For some more than others.

Life goes on and we adapt with the ebb and flow of events. This winter rather than debating whether to take a northern route or a more southern route we will be discussing the pros and cons of insuring a new driver (should she complete driver's training), fixing braces, getting new glasses and trying to explain why -- despite being children of the 70's -- we are still fighting the notion of co-ed sleep overs.