LIFE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD...by b. Malin
AND SOMETIMES...FIVE...OR MORE...
LIFE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD...
Born
Life
Live
Home
Play
Grow
Work
Date
Love.
LIFE IS A FIVE LETTER WORD...
Smile
Happy
Marry
Begin
Again
Birth
Death
And in between these Basic Four and Five letter words we stand, ready to go out into the World all Shiny and New, without a Care in the World. Most of us have been raised to do our Best, Work hard in School, Grow Up half way Normal, and finally, be able to take care of ourselves. Our Parents Love us, but want us to succeed on our own...Have a good Job, take a Mate, and Marry, and of course, make them Grandparents!
Now in a Perfect World this does Happy for many of us... We do Marry... or have a "Significant Other"...Someone who Loves us Unconditionally...Mmm, well maybe Most of the Time. We in turn Love them back, most of the time... and try our best to do all the rest, on the Treadmill of Life...Most of the time.
So we have the child, or children...continue to work, find that OUR "Play Time" is a thing of the past... restricted to the Children, and we are now the Hard Working Adults...Buying a Home, setting up "College Funds" for the Future, and praying that our patience will sustain us...And as a Couple, we will last, and grow old together...And our Sex Lives will stay "On Hold" for just awhile longer...Because we are so Tired...And there is so Much to do and get done and the day and night are just not LONG enough. It wasn't like that in the beginning when we were so HOT and heavy for one another. But that sadly was then, and this is now, our Reality.
Some of us make it through those years, and some, Sadly, do not...We divorce in record number... If there are children involved, they live in "two homes"...and their parents, work even harder, as they wonder who they are...And why the Dreams they shared changed. They are still Parents, most of them working Parents, but suddenly they make the TIME for "other things"...Like playtime for themselves, which means they date, sometimes just "sleep around" and go through their "crazy times". The Children sometimes have to fend for themselves, and in some cases, THEY become the parent to their Parents!
Thank goodness the time passes quickly as some Marry again, adding the word "Normal" back into their lives...Some are good Marriages blending two Families, while others are Mistakes, that will not last...And some find Comfort for whatever the reasons, and just live together in a way that works well for them.
The Children grow up, leave home, take off for College, the Service, or sometimes points unknown...and those questions are not answered...The World is a different place. Meanwhile the Grandparents, some of them in need of help, for they can no longer take care of themselves and too proud to ask. Some grown children do take their Parents in...some don't... Times once again have become hard. And so instead, some Parents go to Nursing Homes and eventually death comes to claim them. While others go to Assisted Living, where they sit alone and wonder if they have failed somewhere along the way. They won't talk about it, but they know, that the idea of giving up any of their Space... is something their children just won't do...As these parents did for their parents. But this Generation feels no Guilt...Life is Hard...It's a Four Letter Word.
