When the time came for Owen to put down the pacifier, Kari went to the mall. She and Travis had talked to the little guy about that day for a long time and now it had come. Fully expecting angst and drama Kari really didn’t enjoy her alone time. Moms are not out-of-sight out-of-mind kind of people.

At home Travis told Owen the time had come to say good-bye to the pacifiers and asked him to gather all of them up out of his room. He explained after they were all thrown away everyone would have ice cream. Owen brought all five pacifiers into the kitchen and lined them up. Travis sat the trash can right beside him. One at a time Owen picked up each pacifier and took one last suck and said, “Bye-bye, Paci,” as he threw it in the trash. After the fifth one hit the can he turned to his daddy and said, “OK, ice cream!”

And that was that. He made that transition with unexpected ease.

Change and transitions take place for all of us through out life. Some we breeze through like Owen did, and some we struggle with. I guess the sometimes struggle is part of the process, like a butterfly wriggling out of a cocoon. It takes a nuclear plant worth of energy and it’s exhausting. But it’s what it takes to move on to the next phase of life.

I gave up one of the hardest things ever yesterday, the keys to my dad’s apartment. We spent two days clearing out and digging though a lifetime. Closing the door for the last time and handing over the keys took more strength that I thought I had. However, I did it.

Like Owen, I knew the time was coming, but I just wasn’t ready. So as, Linda, my sister-in-law says, “I’ll lean in a little closer to Jesus today.”