I See Hope.....

Yesterday was a travel and goof-off kind of day.  I got up, finished up some laundry and sundry chores, loaded us up and headed toward Philly.  The plan was to pick up my niece and double back to the amusement park for their big Haunt event.

The event was fun, and I'm always amazed by how well Babygirl and her Pink-haired cousin get along.  At fifteen, she is the funniest, kindest young woman anyone could ask for.  She and Babygirl genuinely enjoy each others' company.  Conversations we had while waiting in lines had me (and the people around us) in stitches.

People say they are afraid for the future when they look at 'teenagers today.'  I look at the teens and young adults in my life and have nothing but hope for a wonderful tomorrow.  I know that my kids and nieces and nephews are not the exception, but the rule.  Adults see pink hair and ear gauges.  I hear discussions of car design and robotics, the arts and sciences.  I see young people raising beautiful, if non-traditional, families to value hard work and good manners.  I see readers, thinkers, inventors and humorists.

They don't look like I did as a teen.  They don't talk like I did as a teen.  They aren't like what I was as a teen - they are more.  More confident, more worldly, more adventurous and more attuned to the world around them.  They are tomorrows voters, politicians, and dreamers.

When I was a teen, we were blue-jeaned Jesus freaks or LSD-using hippies.  Our music reflected our lack of values, and our generation was going to send the world to hell in a handbasket.  I hear the same thing said about 'kids today' NOW that I heard people say about us THEN.  But I don't see it that way.

I see hope.

DeeDee