Tradition And Change

It is not hard, when part of a family, to fall into certain traditions--what you eat on Sunday nights, where you spend Thanksgiving or Christmas, what you do for vacation. Traditions are great--they give you a direction, and a sense of security in an ever-changing world. But what happens when a tradition changes? When your go-to restaurant is no longer there, or one of your group is not with you, or time or distance just don't allow you to do what you always do?

As the years go by, and my children age, and our circumstances seem to change daily, we are learning to let go, a little, of certain traditions, and to embrace new ones. It is not easy. There is the moment of "what?" There is the moment of "but we always..." There is sometimes a pit in the stomach or a moment of paralysis in the face of change. And sometimes, there are tears for what once was. But then, there is picking ourselves up, and accepting change. There is taking a deep breath and starting to create a new tradition.

Traditions are great--they give us direction and a sense of security in an ever-changing world. And maybe, just maybe, having them gives us the strength to change them when we need to. So that we can make new traditions, and find the new direction and security that keep us going.