I raised chickens, ducks, and even a goose or two. Where is the young girl who once was, that teenager paddling across the lake, determined to make it to the regatta on time. Yes, she did win the race and stayed up too late square dancing until her young feet ached. On the edge of that same path sits a mother with not enough eyes to take in all the beauty of the first baby's angelic smile. You marry a family to add to your own.
Skills develop, the variety of problems is staggering.
First thing you know, the kids are no longer kids and you're the one returning to school, putting a professional framework on this talent for helping others you have unknowingly developed. A hesitant choice begins to coincide with what was obviously, all along, an unsuspected goal. I accepted direction, even though I had always been free. I learned to work on a team I did not always lead. I accepted and embraced the suffering of others.