One day you are the head of the family, and then, poof, it's gone.

                  Passing the baton

I don't exactly know when it happened. In fact, I didn't even know it had happened. You are the parent, be it mother or father, and you dictate what happens and when it happens. The lives and events of your children are determined by you and so it should be. You decide what y'all will do, when you'll do it and where. No decision is made about anything unless you make it or allow others to make it for you. That's just the way it is when you are the parent. And then one day, out of nowhere, you realize that what is going to occur and where has just been determined by your oldest child. And you think about that for a while and you realize that it wasn't the first time or even the second time, it takes until about the third time before you even notice. You are no longer the dictator, the decision maker or even the one with the most logic and intelligence.

The baton of life has been passed and you didn't even see it happen. You are now saddened by this dastardly event and relegated to doing whatever you are told. You begin to accept your fate, after all, no Pharoh ruled forever and as you begin to understand that it was meant to be, bam, it happens again. This time by your youngest child, and now you fully grasp what has occured because you didn't like it the first time and you are not going to go down easy.

Your youngest child has now started deciding what will happen when, right alongside of your oldest. A tough pill to swallow indeed! You put things in perspective, heck, you're not that old. But they are, they have achieved adulthood and they have begun to assume control. At one time in your youth you were the one on the bottom of the totem pole of life, your parents were above you and their parents above them.

And as time erodes our days, and our parents bury their parents, it is as it should be. And the day comes that you must say goodbye to your parents, those gifts from God that you were blessed with and the ones that raised you to be an adult and in control. And then you find yourself at the top of that totem pole, and as you learn to deal with your fate, you find that not only have you gone from the bottom of the pole to the top, but they have taken the baton from you as well.

As time continues and you settle into your new albeit unfamiliar postion, it dawns on you that your children were raised well, and they have done exactly what you had done once so many years before. And all is right. All is well with the world. All is as it should be and you quietly beam with pride and then do what you are told.