Friends, Family, Children

Life is hard! Today has been a sweeping day of emotions. I finished a big research paper today and sent it to the professor for comments. She'll return it and I'll begin again. This will be my process for the rest of my life, so I must dig in and excel.
Child 1 comes home and we discuss the move north. Wonderful friends A and J write to say they want to take me out to celebrate grad school! And these are my home-school Bible friends, dear to my heart! Friends B, T, and Ch cheer me on. I meet with B and T next week and Ch sometime after she returns from her sisters baby shower in Colorado. Northern friend C emails about her son D moving in with me up there.
Then mom calls and says she might come up there too! Or she might come here with MrTexasRivers or maybe with my bro or with my sis. I tell her be free. Go where she wishes. She has options. So she considers retiring, but she hates to reduce her income.
Then Child 3 has not called. I call her. She is not where she said she would be at Es. No she is with E picking up C to go to Ks (all in neighborhood area) But I say, You are supposed to call me BEFORE you change activities! She says, I was going to! Then I get a call from the school.
"Your child missed one or more classes today" OH great. She did come home at lunch for a reason--and later says that they just didn't make it back on time and it is her first time to miss (as far as I know, it really is) and that she wasn't skipping, she was tardy (so they don't let you go to class).
But I am so worried that this one just doesn't care to press toward the right thing. So many of her attitudes are similar to her aunt. She is failing, she has no job, she has no major crisis, and she does very few chores (and if she takes out the litter, trash, or feeds animals SHE REMINDS YOU HOW HARD SHE WORKS) but WE are so HARD on her. If we correct her, we are mean.
It is strange. I don't see how the logic holds up in her head...But what goes on in child 3s mind, I don't know. Since I know her aunt, she may never mature into taking responsibility for her own attitude and actions in the way that the older children have matured. But I must remember she is NOT her aunt---and so that is not her destiny. She has time to mature and maybe she is just slow in that area. Or maybe she IS becoming more responsible, but it is not yet reaching her actions. As always TIME WILL TELL. I pray she succeed in her own goals and that she work for them and take responsibility for her right and wrong actions.