Trade Winds

I have found myself in a foreign land yet again.  Since my last post, I have not only relocated my family once but twice.  First to Boston.  In the summer before my first child's senior year.  The quiet child.  The sensitive child.  My first boy.  It seemed so exciting on paper.  There were so many fun things to do once we arrived.  There were forays into the city on rollerblades on the Minuteman bike path. There were the typical tourists lunches at Faneuil Hall.  But then the school year began, and it all began to crumble.  The idea of it gave over to the living of it.  There were some highlights, the Cross Country team, the friends made.  There were too many lowlights, the druggie first girlfriend, the lying, the screwing up college applications, the will to fail.  After investing 12 years in all the right schools and choices, it seemed like it came down to a handful of rejections to tell me I was all wrong.  I second guess EVERY choice we make as parents but there were just too many things telling me I was wrong there.  And its a choice when you have more than one child.  For number two son, there was the chance to visit his dream music school, lessons with an amazing teacher, lots of close friends and fun adventures.  For this child, the choice was right on.  And then there is the baby.  The girl.  The pre-teen.  So many changes and so much pain for her in the move.  We learned we had to listen better and take her seriously.  We had to change our parenting for this child.  For the lesson we had to learn, the bitter pill we had to swallow, there was a tiny glint of light in all of it.  Our oldest son decided his life's calling was in helping people, perhaps as a doctor. This seemed like an answer to a prayer for us, for him.  Out of bad things, there can be something good.  So.  There's That.  Boston.  Left Boston behind.  The trade winds blew us 5,000 miles away to a small island in the Pacific Ocean.  About as far and as different an experience as I have ever known.  There are all kinds of questions and doubts about this choice.  But, so far, the choice has been good.  Each day is different.  Today, the trades are blowing through my open windows.  I forget my troubles for a time.  I accept the changes and choices that have been made.  The oldest son is doing well in college far, far away.  Life goes on...