Beyond the Gate at Grandma's House

Tonight, as I was sitting in the driveway at my grandma's house, the headlights of our car illuminated the gate on the chain link fence that is behind her house. As I sat there waiting for my husband to get in the car, I thought of the countless times I opened that gate and entered another world. It was a world where I could roam free in fields and in barns or on the back of a horse or in the row of a garden. And I realized once again how thankful I am for those experiences. I thought about my own children and how I want them to experience such things. I thought of how much I want to protect them, but also how much I want them to experience the freedom to explore.