It’s 10:30PM… Do you know where YOUR kids are?

Are they sneaking out of their window to meet their boy/girl friend for a late night rendezvous?

Are they smoking pot with the "bad crowd"?

Are they wondering how they’re going to tell you that they’re pregnant?

Are they studying their hardest to get into that college that Daddy insists on?

Are they online talking to some creep who is pretending to be a 14 year old boy?

Whew, am I glad I don’t have to worry about all of THAT stuff yet. My kids are safely tucked into their beds. (I know they are because they still need Mommy (That’s me!) to tuck them in.  I’m not really sure how I’m going to deal with all of those added stresses of being a mom as they get older… I tell myself it’ll come to me in time and I’ll somehow just -know- how to do it. I hope I’m right.

But what about those other parents? You know the ones. The parents who DON’T know where their kids are right now. (Or maybe they know, but just don’t care). How do you become one of those parents, I wonder?  I know for a fact that my children are safely in their beds, yet I worry.

What if Makenzie manages to pull her blanket over her face and smother herself? (I know the rules… No blankets in the crib… But I think she’s old enough that she’ll be fine, and besides, I don’t want her to get cold).

What if there’s a fire? Could Stephanie and Christopher get out safely? I should have never moved their room into the basement. I know they’re right at the bottom of the stairs, and I know that -I- could fit through that window, but what if I couldn’t get to them?

What if a bad person creeps in tonight and takes one or all of my children. What if a drunk driver hits my van and kills my kids? What if….  In all of these scenarios my mind tells me the same thing. "I would die. I would not be able to go on if anything happened to any of my children."

It’s endless.. A horrible, endless, worrisome list of things that could go wrong. I worry about all of them and I worry often. I’ve always been a worrier. But what about those parents who don’t worry?

I know it’s completely random (I usually am), but how does a mother grow a baby inside of her womb for months and then somehow not feel this incredible, unbreakable bond? I’m sure there’s no real answer… There’s no possible answer that could make sense, but the question is still there and sometimes I just can’t make it go away.