The Glass is Half-Full

I am the proud parent of three wonderful children - 19, 16 & 13. Can't even say they're children anymore, really - but they're my children. Through these many years I have had occasion to experience the intense pain that comes to parents when one of their children is hurt - by friends or circumstances. One would think that once your 'children' are no longer 'children' that these painful experiences would abate. Not so - seems the bigger the 'child' the bigger the hurt. At least for this parent! On two occasions this summer my 19-year-old was dissed by supposed friends. Now if this had happened when he was younger - I might have called the offending friend's parents and had a little chat. But you can't do that when your child is no longer a child. Instead, you have to stand helplessly by and hold back the tears and feel the burning inside that is your heart breaking. And then, if you're a parent like me who likes to write and finds so...