That Familiar Tug

     Thirteen years ago I felt a tug. My husband felt it too. I was forty-seven years old with four children ranging from ages eleven to twenty-one. I hadn't felt this tug since before the birth of my last baby. But here it was, happening, and I knew it instinctively. The Red Thread was pulling me again.

     This Red Thread (as the Chinese legend goes) is tied, by the gods, around the ankles or pinky fingers of those who will meet one another in a certain situation or help each other in a certain way. We all have at least one red thread. Feeling the tug of this thread, we are destined to be in relationship with each other regardless of time, place, or circumstance. It may stretch and tangle, but the magical cord never breaks.




      All babies are miracles; my biological children have red threads wrapped all over them. These threads have definitely been stretched but they've never broken. The Real Deal is that there have been times when a thread got so thin and so threadbare that I could almost hear it snap. It didn't. Looking back, I see that the thread wasn't even close to breaking; it was only stretching to let growth happen. You see, if this Red Thread is wrapped up too tightly around your child, he can't grow. Stretching is inevitable, no matter how painful it may be. Eventually, the thin thread becomes a strong cord. This is happening in my life right now... finally.

     Today we're celebrating the birthday of "tugger" number 5. She is twelve today. She is growing into a smart, beautiful, interesting, and yes - a complex work of art. The thread is starting to stretch a bit, and it even is getting somewhat tangled now and then, but I now know something that I didn't know the first time around. It will never break no matter what. It's way too strong.

As three days suffice to cover certain trees with flowers, six months had sufficed to clothe her with beauty. Her April had arrived. Les Miserable-Victor Hugo

     Child number six also has a birthday soon. We felt her tug while in China in 2004. As soon as we got home, we recommenced the process and returned to China in 2008. She is quiet, deep, creative, sensitive, and her thread hasn't stretched or become too tangled up yet. She is stingy with her smiles, but when one comes, my heart swells.

A smile is the same as sunshine; it banishes winter from the human countenance. Les Miserable-Victor Hugo

     Maybe some of you are feeling a tug. It very well might be someone on the other end of your red thread kicking his feet and waving his hands to get your attention; asking you to open up your heart in another relationship. I think that in the end we only regret the chances we didn't take.

     Don't ignore the tug...

Melanie

It always seems impossible until it is done. Nelson Mandela