Amanda Lamb: Crisis averted

“What is it?” My heart leaps a little imagining the worst case scenario – she had a car accident, she’s sick, the dog is sick, the house is on fire…

“The shoes I ordered for my trip won’t be here until tomorrow. They won’t get here before my flight. I have to go shopping immediately.”

She chuckled a little after she said this knowing how I would receive this news while I was at work, like the joke that it was intended to be, making a first-world problem into a crisis. But there was a grain of truth in her voice – this was a crisis to her despite how ludicrous it sounded to me.

The truth is that we’ve raised smart, responsible, capable women, but even with all their amazing abilities to navigate adulthood, they sometimes resort back to being my little girls at a moment’s notice.

I got another emergency call the other day from the airport from my younger daughter about how to get her TSA Pre-check status on her boarding pass.

“You give them your KTN (Known Traveler Number).”

“Where do I get that?”

“I’ve already given it to you multiple times.”

“Give it to me one more time, please.”

Parenting is an adventure. When the little birds leave the nest, there’s no doubt that the stress level goes way down without the daily responsibilities of hands-on caretaking. But don’t be deceived, your on-call status is forever, and it includes everything from the big stuff to the mundane.

The good news is that my older daughter found a pair of shoes to take on her spring break trip. Crisis averted. My younger one successfully figured out how to get her pre-check status on her boarding pass. Another crisis averted. Every time they navigate a hurdle on their own, I see a glimmer of the women they are and the women they will be.

I’m sure there will be many more crises – big and little – as they dip their toes even deeper into the world of adulting. I know that I won’t be able to fix everything, but I will always be there on the other end of the line to listen, to advise and to help when I can because this is what a mother does.

And by the way, the other shoes that she ordered, they did finally show up. Too bad we’re not the same size…