LIFE CHALLENGES NEVER END

According to Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, the only constant in life is change; and very often change creates suffering, especially within families. When I was a kid, I used to play canasta with my grandfather Renato. I took the bus that took me to the Caballito neighborhood and, once there, I got off at the corner of his house. I liked being with him because my grandfather used to tell me about his adventures in the trenches of First World War in which he had participated. However, as expected, when I turned thirteen, I traded the canasta with my grandfather for outings with my schoolmates. I never forgot his reproach one day: “Marina, you don't come to see me anymore”. Today, that I have reached the age when our children leave the family home to start their journey, I feel my grandfather's sadness as if it were my own. What a paradox that despite the fact that we wish for the young people in the family a life full of love and work, that same life far from us fills us with nostalgia and sadness! Moreover, if I'm not mistaken, we mothers are the ones who suffer from it to a greater extent; perhaps it is because the relationship between mothers and their sons and daughters is different from any other; it is a relationship that smells infinity. This is how, by being left without those who were the meaning of our life for many years, we have to face the profound change of starting a new life, the last but the one with the greatest meaning in terms of our role in this world. The time has come for us to be who we are without any help.