Death and Taxes

No, no one died. And, yes, we do owe taxes this year.

The saying goes that two things are inevitable, death and taxes. I would add one thing to that list of inevitable life experiences and it is "Change." With a capital "C" and that rhymes with "T" and that stands for trouble.

Change. The mere word inspires either an adrenalin rush like no other or a cold feeling in the pit of your stomach depending upon a few factors, I believe. One is the nature of the change. Is it happy or sad? Wedding verses loss of a job? Getting a new car verses growing older?

The other factor that determines the response to change is our natural temperaments. There are adventurers and then there are nest builders.

I had a friend who had a friend who loved to move. I mean move as in houses, residences, states; not dance, walk, or run. She would sell her house and move, first around the county, then out of the state, just for the adventure of it. I could not imagine such a thing! Packing, unpacking, finding new grocery stores, schools, doctors, and friends. It was unfathomable to me that anyone would call that adventure!

I have experienced mucho, mucho change in my life. And it has taught me that change is inevitable, sometimes stressful, often good-for-you, and; yes, sometimes even happy. But I am a nest builder and not an adventurer (at least where change is concerned). I have not yet learned to make change "easy."

Oh, I know all the stuff about how it's all in your attitude, blah, blah, blah. Well, just how does one change ones attitude, I'd like to know? I have never found it an easy thing to do. I come from emotional responses, the heart not the mind. Can one really change feelings as easily as one changes one's underwear? It is not a talent that I have mastered.

And now, having enlarged my nest to include so many more people; there is so much more change. Now I get to watch my kids experience change. I am afraid that they are all nest builders. Well, there may be one or two semi-adventurers in the bunch...well, maybe not.

They will learn, as I have, that change is survivable...always survivable, if you know where to look for strength.

I wonder if any of them will learn the whole attitude thing, thus making change a fun and exciting part of life.

Nah, probably not.