Cookies crumble, biscuits burn, people make mistakes, consequences last a lifetime

This has been a rather tumultuous week for our small, southern town. Talk has been flying. Gossip spilling out full of truths and half-truths. Adults facing mistakes. Young people facing embarrassment. Children wondering why and how. Friends saying it can't be true. Strangers wondering how it all began. Authority figures shuddering at the fall-out. Relationships strained to the breaking point. Confusion clouding the lines of right and wrong. The softness of home stiffened by the force of the world. Parents who make mistakes. Poeple who make mistakes. Mistakes come in all shapes, sizes, and amounts. The cost varies, both monetarily, emotionally, physically, and mentally. Often, the exact price isn't known or realized until years down the road. Of course, legally there will be final checks written to cover expenses, but the cost for some will never fully be known. As I sit here pondering, how to express what I feel without sounding or seeming arrogant, condeming, or above all of this, I am humbled at the circumstances involving our town. Raising children is a task of great concern and responsibility. Often, I make mistakes with my kids. When to let go, when to reign them in, when to ask questions, when to wait until they talk, how to hold my anger, how to show them I care. When the pull of the world becomes so close, so strong, so frank, so obvious, so comfortable, so real, it is shocking. So what do I do? Try to live as I want my children to do so. Live by example, not words. I am a mother, I am middle-aged, I have an agenda requiring me to be strong, set boundaries, follow-up, guide, be an adult not a teenager seeking approval or friends. The past few weeks have changed our community. It has made us more aware of casual trips, visits and friends. This awareness has cost plenty. Never assume. Never turn one's head. Never become too comfortable. Never blend into the background thinking no one can see. Always know, there is a chance, there is a mistake, there is a cost and often money can never pay the full bill. There will always be a crumb, just a morsel, just too hot an oven to burn the bread.