Thursday, April 14, 2011

Bike Ride


Now that the Spring weather is here, my daughter wants to ride her bike all over the city. How can I send my child to Italy and South Africa for weeks at a time, and not allow her to ride her bike in the city? But it makes me insane with worry. If she rides on the street, there are all the cars. If she rides in the park, well, who knows? I can't manage to quiet my brain. Never mind that she is one year away from being completely on her own in college, when she won't have to call me at work to ask me for the combination for the bike room lock. And what's this? Just asking for access to the bike room, but not for permission to ride all by her lonesome? Did we miss a step here?

Years ago, a horoscope I read said that Taurus mothers are great when their children are young and cleave to them, but they cope less well when the youngsters become adolescents and insist on independence. As a Taurus mom, I'd say they got it just right. I do understand that she wants to be out in the middle of awakening nature, that biking is awesome exercise, that she feels completely able to navigate her world. She promised to be home before sundown. So I'm doing my level best to occupy my noisy brain with the pile of page proofs on my desk until I see the light starting to fade in the sky. That's when I can call and make sure my girl is home safe and sound, or on her way. This is hard. They don't even know.

Of course she returned home in good time, flushed and happy from her ride along the river in the afternoon sun. It's 9 p.m. now, and she is fast asleep on one of the couches. Fresh air and wholesome exertion will do that.


8 comments:

  1. I, as a mother with a daughter who has a bicycle, completely understand you. I wish my daughter would always stay the age of 11. However, if we don't let them do as they will, how will they grow up? Our job is to sit and pray.

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  2. Oh, I'm a worrier, too, and I'm not even a Taurus!

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  3. I dread this time when my boys get that old -- and I'm a Virgo.

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  4. angella,
    it's so much better when they're away from home. i was an insane worrier. (we lived on the Bowery in the 1980s; he walked home from school alone starting at age 10, because i was at work. enough said.) but once he went to college, i was much better. the allusion that you have control is the worst. that gorgeous daughter of yours has the world on a string.
    xo
    susan

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  5. Hm, I hadn't thought of myself as a Taurus mom but of course I am one....

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  6. Olga, I will repeat after you...

    Tess, you are a Libra like my son and poor child, he is a worrier, too! we are both Venus ruled, if that means anything.

    Elizabeth, I got nothing, except to say, you are obviously instilling in them good sense, and what Olga said.

    Suana t., i agree. i worry less about my son now that he is at college. i remember myself at college and know that i managed to cope with all my scrapes and that helps. but you know, i am now wondering if perhaps my insane worry has to do with the fact that i was a teenager who routinely took stupid risks and didn't even realize until much later how badly things could have turned out. i think it's part of why i worry now. i was smart (i thought) and yet i was so very stupid back then.

    A., perhaps we are most of us Taurus moms whether or not we are born in April or May. nice to see you.

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  7. Oh my gosh, we are just alike...me being a strong Taurus...and an incurable worry wart...I wish there was a cure for that!♥

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  8. Ah Kim, I wish so too. I am working on positive thought!

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