Flight Patterns, or Relearning How to Use Your Own Wings

It is an undeniable fact of life that our babies have souls which begin to sprout wings, from the very moment at which they are born. As parents, we spend much of their childhoods trying to maintain and clip those wings in an effort to keep them from becoming overgrown before their time. We fuss, we bother, we trim, and we pray, that the wings that our children's spirits grow will provide them with all of the lightness that their dreams may carry, but also the weight to know when it is time to stay grounded for a while. We do the best we can to provide a nest which is warm and safe and dry. We slowly nudge them from that nest, in hopes that we will someday be able to watch them soar, flying confidently on their own.

But as parents, what do we do about our own wings? As we become the nurturers, what happens to the wings which are still very much a part of our own souls? This is something that I have been contemplating, for the past several years, as I gently stood back to witness angel daughter number one take to the skies on her own, and I am now anticipating angel daughter number two's departure in the fall. Here she stands at eighteen years old, hanging on the precipice of life with her wings in the ready position. Here I stand, watching with a Mothers eye, and hoping, just hoping, that I have done enough. Enough to set her free. Enough to know that she has exactly what she needs. And enough to continue my own journey towards dusting off my wings, and showing my girls, that mommies can also take flight. In many ways, this is an important time in all of our lives, as we are all on the verge of a test-flight. Our children, because of the newness that using their wings alone brings, and us, because of the fact that we must shake off some layers of dust.

I have four more years before my nest will be completely empty. Four more years to watch as angel daughter number three and finally, angel daughter number four get ready to take flight. At that point, it will have been almost twenty five years since the only wings which I had to concentrate on, were my own. I am both nervous and excited about reinventing myself at that time. I look forward to not only, witnessing what my daughters will become, but also, witnessing my own ability to take flight, in a totally different direction than ever before in my life.

So, I would like to know...What will you do with your wings, as the air-currents change in your own life? Where do you see yourself in five years, and how will you use your wings to get there? Regardless of what may have caused you to tuck away the wings of your soul, how will you use them when you feel ready to soar into a new phase of life?

May you take the time to nurture your own hopes and dreams, and may you never, ever clip your own wings.