Lots of "Mother/Daughter Talks" Going On In My House

On Sunday after church Don and I were in the car with Ruthie. Trae had taken the other kids home in his car and it gave us time with her. Lately, we've been trying to spend a lot of alone time with her. As parents we want to do our best to prepare her for marriage.

Ruthie and I have been having a lot of "Mother/Daughter" talks lately. Some have been so hilarious that I'm laughing as I type this. Some have been serious. Real serious, because we want her marriage to be what Christ intended for it to be. We feel that we would be doing our future son in-law a disservice if we give her to him unprepared. Don and I joke around that we are trying to secure our future and not end up lonely in a nursing home. One sure way to get a quick ticket to the "Seniors R Us Nursing Home" is not preparing our children. We don't want any of our future daughters and sons in-laws to resent us for not preparing our children for marriage. We want them to thank us one day.

As we were in the car, I mentioned to Ruthie that it's going to be nice to have Sunday dinners with her and Ryan. Then I turned around, smiled and said, "You know you're not going to be at our house every night for dinner."

That may sound harsh to some, but as a mother, I want her to establish her own home. She can't do that by being at my house every night. I told her that it's important for her husband to see her at their home and in their kitchen cooking meals for them. Of course we'll spend the holidays together, but even then, I informed her that she must establish holiday traditions for her family. She can use some of our traditions and even some of Ryan's family traditions, but they can have their own traditions as well.

I let her know that I was always here for her and just a phone call or a text away. Also, being a phone call away doesn't mean that we are going to spend hours talking on the phone either. Why? Because I'm building my house as well.