God has a heck of a way....

Lorelai met a boy on the cruise with whom she has been corresponding quite a bit. He was going to come for a visit this weekend. I was leary, but she really wanted to see him again and we certainly were not going to allow her to go to visit his family, not knowing them or anybody who knows them. He stopped calling her the day before he was expected. When she called to inquire as to whether or not he was OK, he was "sleeping" and that was the end of that. No word since. It was kind of like prom weekend all over again. Devastating to her and maddening and exhausting for us.

I know that the characters on The Sopranos aren't real people, but I need to call my friend Rob and ask him to get his Uncle Vito to pay this young man a visit. I've never met Vito but I imagine that he looks kind of like Paulie, on the left there in the picture. I'd feel better if somebody could teach this fellow a lesson about living up to an obligation.

I guess my question is this. What in the world has happened to common decency? All this boy had to do was call and say, "I'm not going to be able to come for a visit." How hard is that? Given what we now know, I'm certainly glad that he did not come, but no mother wants to see her child's feelings crushed. Even though Lorelai invited some friends over to swim and hang out, it really put a damper on her 18th birthday and it brought out the worst in me. I can't figure out a loving way to convince her that who she is and how she feels about herself should not be contingent on the attention of a boy. (Any words of wisdom???) All of my attempts come across sounding hardhearted...then we argue and she stomps off and yells "I can't wait to get out of this house" and I'm thinking...."God really has a heck of a way of getting us ready to let go." We're on this wild roller coaster of emotion...everybody but Legare. He just watches and listens and I know he's thinking..."one more week....one more week!"

Yes indeed...God really does have a heck of a way...