Becoming Obsolete

The boys are growing up. That means I, as a parent, am becoming obsolete. Oh, not completely. Not for a while. But I'm noticing it happening more and more lately. Lane is becoming much more mature since he started high school. He's taking care of things on his own. He's taking initiative. He's being responsible. Not all of the time of course, but much more regularly than he did even a few months ago.

Levi, being younger, is still needing more reminders and help. But even he is becoming more independent every week.

After so long of being so needed, it feels a bit odd to find oneself needing to be less of a drill sergeant and more of a distant supervisor. I hope I'll never be completely uneeded. I hope they'll call from college to tell me they accidentally washed their red t-shirt with their whites and how can they get their unders un-pink? That they'll call one day to say they want to cook dinner for their girlfriend and can I send them my lasagna recipe? That the baby has been crying all afternoon and they can't figure out what's wrong and do I have any ideas?

Hopefully, I'll never become completely obsolete.
Maybe just a little redundant.