Learning to fly

Ah spring. The snow doesn't stick around nearly as long, the chives are taking over the back lawn, and the maple is bursting forth with seeds soon to be twirling all over the neighborhood, until they fin the perfect place to grow - the gutters.

Birds are nesting (and crapping all over my barbecue grill - WTF?!? ) and soon little peeps (and not the stale marshmallow ones growing hard on the counter) will be chirping with the sunrise. Not long after that, and it is time for then to get shoved from the nest out into the wiode world, to make their own way (and find new grills to crap on).

But at what time is it right to cut the strings, to push then out, to let the little ones fly free? How much can you do to prepare them to go out on their own? How many lessons can you give them, how much can you teach them before they simply have to face things on their own?

We don't abandon them. We try to help out as we can, gently guiding them to find their own way as they take their first steps towards independence. We point them in the right direction, but at some point we can no longer guide them. Eventually they leave the "nest" and must fly, or fall, on their own.

What so surprises me is that it isn't my children I'm talking about, as relevant as this may be for them. No, it is about co-workers at previous jobs. How long do you help and give them support (for free on top of it)? At what point do they need to simply go on their own? It has been five weeks (tomorrow will be one month at my new job, and six months since I was let go from where I had been for almost 20 years). And I'm still getting questions - and it still feels like they are lost.

I'm afraid I'm no better at letting (or forcing them to) fly free than I am with my kids.
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