Peace like a river (well, more like a roaring rapid heading toward NIAGRA)

Life with Sydney in outpatient taught us all about home contracts.  So, we draw up a contract with Edward and he moves back in to the house.  He graduated from high school, truly a village effort.  His counselor, along with several teachers, helped him get what he needed.  I did not know until a few days before graduation if he would walk across the stage.  It was a sweet moment.  Really, any achievement in your child's life you mark as a building block for the rest of their life...or a starting block...hoping they will take off and run with it.  This is especially true when you have a prodigal child that is wandering.  They hit a low and you WANT them to hit their low just praying that they will reach up and grab a hold of God or dust themselves off and get up and not make the same mistakes again.  SURELY being "homeless" your senior year in high school and arrested would be your low right?!  We're going to move upward and onward to bigger and better things...college, jobs, etc.   It's hard to let go of the child you dreamed of or the child you were and just love your kid for exactly where they are.  I made peace with where Edward was somewhere along the way.  Or I should say I AM making peace with my son and trying to love him for who he is now and not what I wanted him to be way off in fairy tale land so long, long ago.  He went to junior college at Richland and was still working at Del Frisco's Grille as a bus boy.  Life was okay...not great, but okay.  And when you have walked through the valley of the shadow, okay is A-OK.  Beware to ever get complacent.   Addictions suck.  I hate that pot still has a hold on him and he has bought into the lie that marijuana is okay and all the CRAP Satan pedals through friends, dealers and everyone else caught up in that lie.