Growing Old is Like an Onion

Author, Sandra Cisneros describes growing older like the rings inside an onion, or the rings inside a tree trunk...

The idea is even though we turn one year older each year, we are still the years inside of us. This reminds me of something that happened a few weeks ago.  Buddy Roller, who just turned seven last month, was at his Chung Do Kwan class, and during their regular sparring session, he got really emotional and started to cry. You see, he was getting kicked and hit repeatedly by another boy who was, quite honestly, more skilled than him. I think the tears came because of the pain from the hits, but more than that, I think his pride was hurt.  

In that moment, there’s nothing I wanted to do more than yell STOP and gather my child in my arms to comfort and console him. But I held back. I had to. It was the right thing to do. As a mom, I have to. It’s situations like these that will make or break him. Plus, my husband was also there, and dads are all about growing tough sons, right? There’s no way I could have intervened even if I wanted to. The point is, at that vulnerable moment, Roller was probably feeling like his three-year-old self. His emotions got the better of him, and he started to cry. But he held it together (as I held my breath), and he continued to spar. He didn’t give up, and that’s the most important lesson in all of this. 

Growing up is hard. It’s emotional, and it's filled with lots of feelings that are sometimes hard to control. We are, really, all our years inside of us.