As a parent of adult children, I oft times am accused of ‘going on a guilt trip’. I remember many times, in my relationship with my own mother, that I thought the same thing about her.

Now that I am on the road that she has long since left behind, I know that what she was attempting to impart was not a feeling of guilt but rather a semblance of truth and guidance bore out of her years. Years I had yet to experience or identify with.

Recently, my youngest daughter’s mother-in-law made a statement on Facebook that made me cringe. I did so because I knew as soon as I read the words, that there was going to be a ‘guilt trip’ backlash. But I knew exactly what she meant. I sympathized. And, regardless of whether there would even be a response, vociferous or sotto-voce, I knew that the inadvertent hurt imparted to illicit such a remark was going to go a long way along the edge of the blade.

The truth is, of course, that when you have children it never, ever ends.

*'You never get to cross the goal line and spike the ball.

 Never.

There is no finish line.'

So maybe next time, before you even think the words, ’guilt trip’, you may want to remember that Karma is a bitch.

*Taken, in-part, from

Parenthood

the 1989 movie

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