Surprises

Last Sunday was a different Mother's Day for me. I had no children with me at all. I spoke with my son in the morning and skyped with my daughter at night. In between I was at church for the Spanish Mother's Day party. I've been thinking about my children on and off, since then , more than I usually do.
My children have totally surprised me as to the adults they are and I suppose still becoming.
As babies they were both easy, very easy. My daughter even easier than my son. Very different personalities and development though. Peter didn't walk until 15 months, Elisa before she was a year old. He was quiet, spoke only when necessary, she stared talking before 1. We often joke that both started to talk at the same time though they are 22 months apart. The shy boy eventually wanted to have everyone's attention, joined boy scouts in first grade and became an Eagle Scout. Our talkative, outspoken girl became quieter, but still a leader and the person her friends turned to for advice and decisions.
But, if you had asked me who would leave us, never her, not in a million years. Our son, out the door, far off places, explore the unknown. Boy was I wrong.
I skype with my daughter because she is in Australia for a semester. She planned it all, made the arrangements, and is having a great time. She keeps talking about going back. She went on vacation to Singapore and stayed in a hostel with her friends from school. Our son lives here with us or in New York with family. Go figure. Not what I ever thought if I had to venture a guess. My son would be on the other side of the world and my daughter close to home.
Peter tolerated school as a means to an end. He has a degree in Culinary Arts and is on his way to becoming a chef. Elisa loved Math and wanted to be an oral surgeon. After being in college for two years now, she is an English major but thinking about changing to Religion because she loves learning about religions. Who knows what the future holds for my two children? Will there be more surprises? I think so.
Do you think we surprise God? Do you think when he created us he peeked to the end of our life to see what paths we would choose and which we would not? Or does he wait and watch us growing, getting closer to him, stopping, wandering off the path, coming back, trying with all our will to do his will?
I bet he watches and like moms, sometimes he cries, sometimes laughs, sometimes smiles, and occasionally wants to make me do it his way; but in the end, he loves. And this, is what moms do, we love.