Five years ago, according to my journalscape entry, my daughter was living here in Los Angeles and my grandson was visiting the U.S. from Greece, where he is a citizen (because that's his father's citizenship--its complicated).

At that time he was drifting in his life, bobbed along on the swell of circumstance, not sure what direction his life's purpose should take. He had two years of college under his belt and was at the point where he had to declare a major.

I give his parents a lot of credit. He would have been willing to undertake a career which would have pleased them, if they had pushed him, but would not necessarily have been his heart's desire. They had the patience and the wisdom to give him time and space to think it over and decide for himself.

My daughter said that she had modeled her response by the way I had acted towards her when she was at the same turning point in her life.

He has now finished his degree and is embarked on his life path, with glowing reports from his mentors and supervisors and professors. It is not a career any of us would have dreamed of, but he envisioned it for himself and is happy. I knew he would need to find some way in life to be of service of others, but I never guessed it would be like this. I am so proud of him.

At this time half a decade ago, we were all having breakfast at an outdoor cafe and talking and laughing and drinking coffee. It would be, though we didn't know it then, the last time all of us would be together in one place at the same time.

I'm grateful to journalscape for the memory storage and retrieval. I'm thankful we had that time together. We had expectations and plans for the future, but the universe had other ideas.

It's Christmas Eve and this evening I hope to be with family and friends, celebrating the Light in the darkness, both metaphoric and actual.