As a parent of grown-up children, things happen to them in the adult world that happen to lots of folks. But because these things happen to your own children, these things bother you still more. Or me anyway.

I just worry about them. And the amount of worry correlates with the amount of love. But as my math teacher friend explained, the amount of worry is not a direct ratio to the amount of love. She said that worry increases exponentially. Here is a graph of this:

In this graph, the variable x = love. So the rate of the curve is 2 raised by the variable x. So the x axis is the love and the y axis is the worry. Gosh, I have not done math in ages.

So here is the front of the card, I left for one of our children who now faces a challenge. No one grows if they are coddled. Growth happens in response to challenges.

When he told us, I admittedly went into hyper-worry mode (also quite unproductive). So I also need to remember the lesson.

And after a night of sleep, I feel sanguine. Everything looks better the next day!

I hope he feels that way too.