Vicissitudes

Last week when my daughter was home for spring break, I thought of how often families adjust to the small vicissitudes of life—of a child starting kindergarten or spending a summer at camp or returning home when everyone’s used to her being gone. Everyone in the family needs to regroup and figure out the new dynamics. Often this process is hard on people, and I found myself sympathizing with those who struggle with such daily challenges.

Then the earthquake hit and the tsunami came. We watched in horror as the vast, relentless water overtook one community after another, and people who looked as tiny as ants fled for their lives. As if to heighten our insignificance, four nuclear reactors are now following their own laws of physics, and no one knows what will happen.

When the earth shatters beneath us—as it does when serious illness hits or we lose people we love—the small vicissitudes take on new meaning. They become sources of joy.

Revel in them, for change is the only constant in life. And the best change of all is the growth of children as they thrive and find their way in this often frightening world.