“Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t” Steve Maraboli
Stepping onto the balcony through the double doors just off my bedroom was a morning routine for me. I would wake up stretch and step outside to breathe in the fresh air enjoying the tranquility of the man-made pond three levels below. I was living in an apartment complex on the top floor facing the interior court-yard. The Strata Council had recently upgraded the pond to include a small waterfall and stocked the man-made pond with Japanese goldfish to create the illusion of peace and tranquility in a suburban world. That particular morning I was stretching and breathing in the fresh air when out of the corner of my eye I saw an ironic scene. Standing in the pond was a large blue heron. I caught my breath because for a second the man-made environment looked like a page out of National Geographic with this beautiful bird of feather swooping in with its majestic beauty. As I watched the scene unfold before me, I realized that this beautiful creature was eating the Strata Council’s beloved Japanese goldfish.
The next morning I ran into a member of the Strata Council in the underground parking lot. “Love the wildlife you guys are creating in the court-yard” I yelled out as he walked to his car. He looked a little perplexed and I said “the blue heron in the pond, did you see it?” “No, but someone told me, we are going to do something to stop it as all the Japanese goldfish will be gone.” “Good luck with that, I’m sure there will be more blue herons in that pond before the week is out.”
Sure enough a couple of days later, standing on the balcony I was greeted with two blue herons enjoying their breakfast from the lovely pond the Strata Council worked so hard to create. Quite the drama unfolded in the following weeks as the Strata Council covered the pond with chicken wire and a host of other tricks to stop the blue herons from eating the Japanese goldfish. No longer did the pond have the feel of tranquility, it looked like a war zone and those bloody blue herons managed to get through every barrier the strata council put in front of them. It didn’t take long before the Strata Council threw in the white towel, removed the chicken wire and we all enjoyed the pond with the sounds of the trickling waterfall without the Japanese goldfish.
Much has happened in my life since the days of living in that apartment complex and I find myself in a similar situation living with two teenage boys. When the boys were young my husband and I were able to control their environment by laying down the chicken wire controlling the maze in which we all lived. As a parent I often stressed about making the right decisions with the boys as I fully understood the power I had over them in their younger years. To live by example in everything I did was important because their brains were like sponges taking in our environment, our actions and our words. Were we perfect, far from it, but my hope and dreams for my boys were to raise two decent human beings. My husband and I were under the illusion, like that strata council, that we could create the environment and if we laid down the stones properly as the strata council did with that pond so many years ago, somehow navigating through those stones would be easier as time moved on.
Stepping through those stones that we laid so many years ago has become increasingly difficult as they are slippery in emotion and opinions. I have learned like the strata council, that you can not control the wild as it has a mind of its own. No different with children as they reach teenage years prepping to become adults. It’s not so much that we have thrown in the towel, it is the realization that laying down those stones all those years ago have paved the way and now it is time to let the boys lay down their own stones and give them the freedom as to the directions those stones will lead.
Now and then I see a glimpse of the little boy with the curly hair or the little boy with the mischievous grin peek through the big teenage boys. Christmas use to be fun with the boys when they were anticipating Santa. Hiding the gifts and placing the gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve so the boys could find their gifts from Santa the next morning, brought my husband and I so much pleasure. The past few years we have given the boys cash for Christmas so they can go out and shop at the boxing day sales and buy what they want. This year we decided to buy the boys something they could use for school and home by investing in laptop computers. Some how the boys knew they were getting something more significant than a few dollars to go shopping. I don’t think they knew what they were getting but the day I brought the computers home and attempted to scurry to the basement to hide the goods, I was greeted with two boys waiting for my arrival on the front staircase. One boy had curly hair and the other boy had a mischievous grin. I yelled at them to get back up the stairs and they both laughed and said “Whatcha got”. “None of your business get back up the stairs or what I have will go back to the store”.
They laughed all the way back to their rooms and my heart was smiling as I headed down to the basement to hide their Christmas present knowing full well that the two of them would be filled with anticipation when they found the time to sneak down to the basement when my husband and I were sleeping to find the hiding spot to get a glimpse of Christmas before the presents were wrapped and placed under the tree. I hope I never stop seeing the boy with the curly hair and the boy with the mischievous grin and that their stepping-stones always have a path that lead to the two people who laid down that first stepping stone so many years ago.
The Art of Silence in a Noisy World 