Hi there, sweetheart…

I hope you’re getting settled into your new routine and you’re making lots of new friends. College is such an exciting time. Because it’s different. It’s a change…and sometimes change can be a little scary. I mean…here you are out there, doing your thing, learning, growing. But you need some stability. You need to know not EVERYTHING is changing. You want to come back home on the Winter Break and have everything just the way you left it because that’s your security blanket…your touchstone. I get it. I’ve been there.

I left home in July 1973 right after I graduated from x-ray school. I’d been married for six months and the very next day, I was getting on a big plane and flying to England to join my new husband. I had just turned 20. I drove out to my Grandma’s farm to say goodbye to her one last time. I spent some extra moments when I was backing out of the driveway to leave. I wanted to memorize every square inch of that place and my grandma’s face because I wasn’t coming back for a couple of years. It felt like an eternity till I would embrace them again.

When I finally came back before we moved to our next assignment in Colorado, I couldn’t wait to get back to the farm and see my grandma and Uncle Bob and that house that I so dearly loved. But, when I pulled in the driveway, I was in for a shock. While I was gone, my Uncle Bud had painted the old wood house that had weathered to such a beautiful grey. And what did he paint it? Red. Bright cherry red with white trim around the windows!

I was shocked. Confused. Angry. Hurt. 

No one told me. The one thing I thought would never ever change…did. It was a kick in the gut, I’m telling you. Then, when I walked in the back door, there was my very sweet grandma holding out her hands to take her first great grandchild into her arms. That’s when it occurred to me…I had changed, too. My baby girl changed everyone’s lives. I learned from that experience to embrace change…to make “Change” my middle name. After all, it’s unavoidable so you might as well go through it with love and light instead of fear and loathing. It makes life a lot easier.

I get it…I do. Maybe your grandparents have decided now is the time to downsize and make their lives a little easier and that house won’t be there for you when you come home. There are all kinds of changes that can occur because when you are out there in the world…changing…we’re all back here and we’re changing, too. Just know this…we sure love you and we’re so proud of you and happy you are getting these opportunities. Keep learning and growing and changing into the beautiful being you are becoming, dear one. 

Let change rest on you like the new fallen snow.

Love you bunches, honey…

Nana

?

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:”

Ecclesiastes 3:1 ESV