I had a long talk yesterday with a person I watched

grow up.

I first met her as the kid of one of my neighbors when I moved in and from across the street I watched her grow up. It was interesting.

I sort of kept an eye on her as a courtesy to my neighbors coupled with the fact that she seemed to be a pretty good kid.

I got to see her as a child and as a young adult and now she's an adult.

One of the hard parts of a parent/child relationship is that she will always be daddy's little girl and hence it is hard for a parent to realize that the kid isn't a child anymore. Parents worry themselves to death over things sometimes.

One advantage that I have in dealing with her is that I'm not her dad or mom. I didn't raise her. There isn't the emotional bond and I can be detached and not deal have to deal with things on an emotional level.

I think it puts me in a clearer position to think about things because I don't have to deal with the emotional fog of things.

One of the differences she has with her dad is that he's one of those people that likes his life to be neat, orderly and predictible.

She and I are different from her dad in that we both hate being in a rut. I'm a seaman partly because it's different every day, so I can relate to this young woman. She tends to thrive in an unpredictible world, as do I. The sea is very unpredictible, and I seem to do well there.

Right now she's working as a temp for one of those agencies that supply temporary employees to various companies. She works at one place for a while,and then she's sent someplace else to do something else.

Back when I was an Ordinary seaman and the money wasn't too good, I'd work during my time off at one of these agencies. The jobs they sent me off to were very varied. Most of them were interesting, but some of them sucked. I raised circus tents one day, then for the next several days I would be a hotel maid or work in a concrete plant. A couple of times I would have to dress in slacks and a nice shirt and work in an office. I never knew what was coming next and I thrived on it.

Maybe she ought to see if she could become a full-time temporary worker.

Whatever. Who knows?

Anyway, besides being interesting talking to an adult I met first as a child, I think I am going to look forward to chatting with her as an adult when she comes to visit her folks.

While I can certainly see that she has made some mistakes getting to where she is, she's managed to learn from them. This is a lot more than I can say for a lot of people. Most people do not learn.

Right now, I think her dad is selling her short because he's worried a little too much about her.

When it's over and done with, I believe she'll turn out just fine.

When it's time for the long dirt nap, I believe she'll be able to look back and be generally pleased with herself that she did her own thing in her own time. That ain't such a bad deal.






my other blog is:

http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/