Growing Pains

Edited for clarification

I have a friend back in Washington who I think of every time I want to start a sentence with "there's a country song..." because she was the one who pointed out that I can reference a country song for just about anything! Hi Hollie!

So, there's a country song that goes like this:

"There's gone for good and there's good and gone
and there's gone with the long before it.
I wish she'd been just a little more clear.
Well, there's gone for the day and gone for the night
and gone for the rest of your doggone life.
Is it a whiskey night or just a couple beers?
I mean what kind of gone are we talkin' 'bout here?"

Chris Cagle continues on, trying to figure out is his woman's coming back or not. Between you and me, I don't think she is. But, anyway...I thought of this song yesterday when I was thinking about growth.

Sometimes growth is obvious. Physical growth for example. Sometimes it surprises you that the kids need new clothes, again, but it can't be denied that they've grown. Sometimes we don't realize growth for some time after. This happens often with spiritual growth. If we're not focused on it, we might not even know where our spirit is, but all of a sudden the need arises for us to be faithfully present or we're challenged in some way and we realize our spirit has been growing all this time.

There's growth within us and outside of us, in our interpersonal relationships. Sometimes we tend to ourselves or others with great care and promote that growth. More often, though (at least for me) we find ourselves too busy with whatever to weed and water these little vines of friendship, love, personal growth.

We grow up, grow apart, grow old, and grow together. And none if it's easy. Change precipitates growth and it can be very emotional and not always seem like a good thing. But, in the end, I think growth is our goal. It's my goal.

I get nervous about change, but I embrace it too. I love that no matter how hard the change is or how long it takes to realize it...I'll grow. I'll learn something, about myself or my family. I'm face decisions that are exciting or nerve-racking. I'll come out the other side with stronger beliefs, closer friends, more to smile about. I may also have more questions, but the answers will come in time...with more growth.

Edited to add...this morning I was thinking about this post and wondering if it was clear to anyone else how the song related to my blabber about growth. With the chaos of life I didn't get a chance to log on and re-read it to see if it might be clear or a little foggy, until now. It's not foggy at all...there appears to be no connection. (sigh) What's a girl to do?

In my defense, I'm often writing these posts with Tyler climbing on me...at least. I can't recall if that was the case when I originally posted Growing Pains or not, but let's just say it was...so I can feel better about the lack of substance tying the topics together.

For the inquiring minds that might want to know, the tie for me is in the fact that there are so many kids of "growth" and "gone." Plus both words start with G. That's it! No big revelations. I was thinking about friendships and growing apart, or never growing together, or the ways we dance in and out of people's lives while we grow. While considering all that I heard the song and I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if we knew what kind of growth we were talking about at each stage of life?" So often I have an "aha!" moment way after the fact and realize that I grew out of a situation that at the time seemed pointless and painful. If only things were a little more clear...

(like my writing)
:)