Permanence & the Sweet Spot

More than two years ago, I was in London for a week for a mother-daughter bonding trip before Claire-Adele left for college. I had a wonderful time. Even though I was about to "lose" my daughter as she was going to dash off to the East Coast, it was otherwise a sweet spot in my life. Claire-Adele was successfully launched and thrilled about college, and the Boy would get his chance to be the only child.

After the trip to London, the Boy's anxiety and depression reached a crisis level and my marriage imploded.

How much did I cling to permanence, hoping to keep that sweet spot forever in my life? A good friend is going through a divorce. She used to live in a lovely home, and now she is in a less lovely apartment. Relationships, homes, jobs--they all change. 

I was poking around online and I came across a graph like this, probably from a Marketing 101 class.

It got me thinking about my life in general, and how when things are going well in a relationship or job, I long to stay in the sweet spot forever.

That doesn't happen. In fact, my life like looks more like this, lots of lines crossing each other all over the place:

I am learning how to navigate these waves, riding along like a surfer, taking in the ups and downs.