Transitioning Again!

As we fall back to earth from the graduation celebration, it is once again time to take stock in our lives.  Even though Bec is going to school for one more year to get her MBA, it seems that in the Zeiler household, we are switching from the school year, to that period in-between.  Gab will be coming back in a few weeks to work in our area for the summer, which means that the four of us will be under one roof again.  In a few days, my dad will be transitioning back to the north for the summer months.  Needless to say, I am looking forward to everyone being back in the same state! 

However, transition means more than just moving.  For Bec – it is going from undergrad to graduate student, with an eye towards her first full-time job.  For Gab, it will be transitioning from living in the Hartford area, to potentially moving back to New Jersey.  For Debbie and myself, it is the time in our lives where we need to transition to looking towards our future, where the money spent on raising children now must go towards providing for us.  I do not have an entitlement mindset, so I am not expecting the government nor anyone else to tend to my needs as life moves forward. 

We all hear the rhetoric.  Every election cycle, the person wanting to take office provides some persuasive speech telling us what they and the government will do for us.  Our government’s primary job is to protect the lives of its citizens to pursue their own lives under the constitution and the freedoms provided in that document (yes, all laws need to comply).  All else is up to us to pursue.  Part of maturing is realizing that we have to take responsibility for our lives, our actions and our outcomes.  No excuses!  Even in points of transition, the goals and objectives of life-cycle turning points rest upon our own shoulders.  If we trip and stumble, the lessons learned to do better next time is preferable to waiting for someone else to make those decisions (without our input) - success moved outside our control, leaving us with pointing fingers and blaming others.  When my grandfather’s generation arrived on our shores, they saw this great country as a land of opportunity, where they could work hard and reap the benefits of their effort.  They did not come here to be “taken care of."

There is a part of me that would love to go back to the carefree days of living under my parents’ roof, having everything provided for and tended to so that I could play all day.  At 55, those days are long gone.  I had a tough time making the transition, but one cannot rebel against the natural order of things.  And the benefit?  I have a great wife and two wonderful children!  As a parent, aside from my own transitions (i.e., change), I have the chance to help our girls transition as well.  Here’s to opening that door, finding out what is on the other side, transitioning over the threshold and continuing the journey 😄 .