I Am My Mother or Father After All

As I was at the hospital with my Lifelong friend and 2 of my other Lifelong friends tonight, we were talking about our parents and our lives as teenagers. Remember we have all known each other a loooooong time....hence the name Lifelong friends. Anyhoo we were discussing some things we did as teenagers, that although weren't horrible (stupid...yes), we certainly didn't want our children doing them. We talked about how we did stupid things, and we never even contemplated a consequence....teaching each other how to drive a stick shift down a very busy road in the middle of the night, piling 10 girls into one car, not wearing seatbelts (it wasn't a law then). One of my friends made the comment that God was really watching out for us, and He was. I remember as a teenager, my dad always said "What is there to do past midnight? There is nothing you girls need to be doing past midnight". And although we didn't get into trouble and didn't really do much of anything, there really was nothing we needed to be doing out past midnight. I remember my mom waiting up for me and when I would call her to ask about staying out later or seeing a midnight movie, she would usually agree but would want me to wake her when I got home. I knew that she just wanted to make sure I was home safely, but I remember wondering why in the world she would want to be awakened (after all I would be fine) and what would happen if she awoke in the morning only to realize I hadn't awakened her. Now I know that she probably was asleep with one eye open until I did awaken her, and she knew I had arrived safely. Some of us had very strict parents, some of us had sort of strict parents, and some of us had very lenient parents; but we all agreed that our parents knew what they were talking about. It's fabulous how my Lifelong friends and I have grown up together....in much more than the obvious physical, getting older kinda way. We all are growing our relationships with each other, with our children, with our spouses, with our families, and with our Lord! I feel so blessed to have grown so much with these women in more ways than one.