One of my favorite shows is Andy Griffith. Last night the episode was 'Opie the Birdman'. Opie had accidently killed a mother bird with his slingshot. Andy told him that he would have to be a substitute mother for the baby birds. Opie took care of them; putting them in a cage, giving them worms, making sure they had everything they needed. When they had grown and were big enough to leave their nest, Andy told Opie that he would have to let them go, just like their mother would have done if she had still been alive. Opie didn't want to turn them loose and told Andy he couldn't let them go. He questioned if he had done the right things, what if he hadn't taken care of them like their mother would have. Andy assured him that he did the right things. Opie then opens the cage and says to the first bird, "I hope I did all the right things." He releases the birds and they are able to fly into the trees. He turns to his dad and says "He made it! He is O.K.!" As he looks at the cage, he says, "the cage sure looks awful empty". And Andy tells him that the cage looks empty but don't the trees look nice and full.
As a parent, I often wondered if I was doing the right thing. Eric and I said that we only got 1 chance at raising our sons and if we messed up, we didn't get to do it over. As they grew, we would second guess ourselves and pray that we had made the right choices.
Our 2 sons are grown now with families of their own. I am sure that they sometimes question their decisions. I can only hope that their children will turn out as great as they did.
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