Flapper's Folly

As you get older, you find you are responsible, or semi responsible, for more and more people. And you wish that age truly did grant you some great wisdom, but it really isn't so. Mostly, you have experience and experience teaches you that most problems in life are dealt with and quickly forgotten. You come to realize that as long as everyone is healthy, the other stuff is not worth sweating too much about. It's very difficult to convey that to someone who is young and unsure and in a bind.

My two grown children come to me for advice in a crisis. My ex, their dad, to whom I was married for many years, is no good in these situations. If he was, I wouldn't have depended so heavily on my father most of my adult life. My father is now a victim of alzhaimers. I can no longer rely on my Dad's advice to save the day. The buck stops here. I'm always here to help. I'll do anything I possibly can, but sometimes I simply don't know what is best.

I now realize how terribly broad my Daddy's shoulders were to carry all that responsibility. He was never a know-it-all, but he listened calmly and carefully to a problem and then presented a plan. If you followed that plan, it would be okay. I realize now that he couldn't always have been sure his plan would work, but I know that he would have backed it up and made it right if it didn't. That took tremendous confidence and was a huge responsibility and he never backed down from the task.

Daddy, nobody will ever fill your shoes...