Our kids spent the month of July at camp. They have changed. They have grown.

So now, the Whitmer Cavalcade is different. 

We’re spending the weekend being together. Being all together for the first time in a month. Reorienting ourselves to how to relate and care and love one another well. 

If I were to relate to them as they were before, they could easily lose the resilience they fought for while they were away. 

I could rush on, missing the joy of this transition time. Missing the fun of noticing the changes. Wishing away the moment to get to the next.

Others may lean toward nostalgia, missing the little children they were just a few years ago. Missing the joy of watching their hard work in action or, even worse, pinching them into old scripts.

I want to savor the joy of growth, of including new skills and new ideas. I want to expand to include their changes. Healthy relationships, families, and teams grow and change as the members grow and change. Allow your people the room to go away and come back a bit different, a bit broader than they were before.