Clive says yes he does remember you. He was in the same youth group as your sister Susan and they were both on the annual Bible quiz team in 1959!

If you’d like to exchange e-mails with Clive, you can send him a note via the ‘Contact’ page at the top.

Cheers and thanks for visiting

Kim, re ‘criminal’ – I guess the biggest issue was/is in my own mind, the darn inner critic, which (whom?) I can usually overcome. That said, some family members do tend to speak up with their own views quite regularly!

Inner critic whispers words like neglect, bad person, and selfish. In all the years I was tied to the corporate hamster wheel, three weeks in Paris was an impossibly long time — absolutely, positively impossible. That ended last year. Now, when I want to write something serious and would like to do a lot of that in Paris, three weeks is microscopically short.

I wil stop now and just try to figure out the best way to juggle in this new phase!

Cheers all and thanks again.

: )

I think many people who live in the United States don’t see their parents any more often than you see yours. Distance is a serious obstacle to negotiate whether we are speaking in the context of physical distance or the emotional response that is evoked by whatever distance an individual puts between childhood and adulthood. In short parents can always push our buttons. Moreover I’m quite sure we do exactly the same things with our own children as they become adults, and generally we don’t even realize it.

Setting and sticking to priorities is always difficult particularly when all the choices have much to recommend them. Writing projects, in particular, are both time consuming and frustrating because often we feel less than inspired about having something to say. Sometimes you just have to force yourself to write even if you don’t use whatever words you have just spent several hours sweating blood over!

In 1915 Robert Frost wrote in “The Death of the Hired Man,”
“Home is the place, when you have to go there,
They have to take you in.”

It is good to know that we can go home again, and are not forced by circumstance to go home because we have no where else to go. Nonetheless, home, with all its secure and safe associations, can be a source of anxiety. As parents age, it becomes even more difficult to manage that line between being the child and being the grown up.

In the end I’m sure you and Clive will enjoy your trip to New Jersey and have one more lovely Thanksgiving with your family.

I can undertand you 100%… It’s hard, we are always juggling with obligations and what is correct. Even if we know that we only have one life and dreams are worth pursuing.

Unfortnately,we can’t make everyone happy at one; someone always loses out.No, you are not a criminal, neither is anyone else for choosing to live far away from their parent’s nest.

I’m more than sure that each time you are back, the happiness is enormous for your Mom. She enjoys you being back & knows that you are there for her.

Big hugs to you & Clive & a safe trip back to NJ.
XX

Have a safe journey, and see you back here in December!

Thank you for you link yes I am amused at the posting …. still a few more to go …. Take Care and have a wonderful time in America with your mum and family xxx

I appreciate that the UK includes Wales, Scotland, and England, as demonstrated in my posts about all three countries.

Cheers and thanks for visiting.