Protective parents attach training wheels to their children's growing up years. No one puts them on the years growing older. The wise widow puts them on her own bicycle. That's what Elaine Wagner did and she tells us about it in her memoir, FEELING THE DISTANCE. There were a lot of potholes in front of her. Diminished dreams and lost loves to name two. The time came when she was ready to detach those training wheels and sail down the last big hill, her feet off the pedals, the wind tossing her hair, ready to embrace her new life and the experiences ahead. Maybe it will not be quite the life she planned on, but then how many of us get exactly what we plan?
