BY PAMELA JO BOWMAN, MESA ARIZONA – A friend told me recently that she feels like she is always in wait mode. Waiting for others to do what they are supposed to do so she can do what she wants to do. I have often felt like that myself. This last year, I decided to stop waiting. Some would beg to differ as I wait on my kids, husband, friends … but I feel I have taken more control of my life. Imagine what it must have been like before!

A friend expressed that she feels she was fearful of being all she is supposed to be because then others might not love her. She told me that I was fearful as well but for another reason. I was fearful of making others feel “less than” and, since I always felt “less than others”, I would never want to make others feel that way. Don’t you hate it when friends are honest with their perception of you?

More thoughts to end this tumultuous year and to begin the new one. My older sister sent me a thoughtful gift for Christmas. A lovely photo of a bridge. A reminder for me every day that all I have to do is cross over to get to the other side. The bridge only waits for me.