I’m back from Australia, back to my desk, my book, my ordinary life. Back to the cold winter laden with boots and gloves. Back to the United States.

It feels wonderful. My mom always said that going away is great, but so is coming home.

I am in what I believe to be the final stages with Balboa. If I can stop finding errors, and they can find and correct some, this process would go faster. I have made it my hindrance, encumbrance, mission not to go over the entire manuscript for each correction. Now I check to see that the correction I submitted was made. My mantra is: It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough.

My children’s’ lives move forward, as does mine. They remain a natural, continual part of my life but we have our own lives too. And that is as it should be – because in the end, we each need to fulfill our roles as individuals, as members of the human race, as functioning, giving, productive cogs in the wheel of time. What a shame it would be for any of us to not discover our potential, meaning, significance.

And therein lies the rub. We get used to a role (needy child, rebellious teen, enlightened student, know it all (ha!) parent) and find it difficult and unsettling to move on to what is next. The unfamiliarity, the growing pains, the uncertainty of those next steps. Yet, without facing them, we may remain in the same place/role for too long. As time lapses, we find it harder to gain enough traction to step from the hole we have created.

Life’s continuum makes hanging on to what is outdated, an illusion of what once was, while making what we want, or think we are moving toward, an illusion of what isn’t. The time spent today on what is different, inventive, and aware – is what makes those ‘tomorrow dreams’ realities.

Scary, exciting, disastrous, wondrous. They are but words, often describing our anticipation. Nike says: Just Do It.

I say (with slightly more understanding and compassion, and no ax to grind regarding sales): Do it, but do it with love, conviction, and the desire to better yourself and reach your personal goals.

Because, “You make the world a better place by making yourself a better person.”

Welcome the dawn of a new day.