The True Quiet Strength (of adulthood)

When I was younger... junior high age, roughly... I took to cussing. I remember vividly the first cuss word I ever intentionally said (after the initial, really-young, soap-in-the-mouth variety, that is). I remember where I was, why I said it, who I was with - and I have to tell you that it is a-maz-ing for me to remember all that detail, because my memory of such things is not always so hot. 

I'm the one on the front left in the oversized blue jacket - I was never one of the "in" crowd, but I had my friends.
Two of my four brothers are also in this shot
I won't identify any of them out of kindness.

On Truth and Trust...

A "pijamie"-clad Buttercup came up to where I was sitting on the top step last night and laid her head down on one leg, and then put her legs across my other leg, with her body hanging across the gap between my knees. Considering that she and I took a very fast trip down the stairs just a few months ago, resulting in stitches for her and four hours on a fetal monitor for me (I was still pregnant at the time), it was a pretty trusting position to take!

In looking at the successive ages of my older children, I see, of course, decreasing levels of that overt trust. It got me to thinking about trust... As we age and begin learning about the world and all the evils that are out there, who and when to trust gets ever more complicated. Should I take you at your word when you say you'll show up for something? Does my trust require a contract be signed? Do I instill trust in others? Do I make my word my bond?

Rethinking Standards for Acceptability

There is something that has been weighing on my mind for a while now - and subconsciously I suppose I have been responding to the urge to make a change. As my children have grown, I've become increasingly aware of the objectionable content we are unwittingly, and sometimes un-willingly, exposed to, and the refrain has been:

If I protect my children from these images and ideas, how good are they for my own soul, development and moral compass?