I want a frickin' magic wand.

I consider myself a "doer". When I'm stumped by a problem or I hit a roadblock (mental, emotional or physical), the competitive nature in me kicks in to high gear and I make it a priority to find a solution.

So....How frustrating it is to me that I can't always "fix" things.

I couldn't fix my marriage. It was a bitter pill to swallow when I came to the realization that the other party was never going to be willing to make an effort, so all of my attempts to "fix" what was broken were completely useless. FAIL.

I can't fix the drippy faucet on the south side of my house. I've finally come to the realization that I'm going to have to hire a handyman (I don't think I could ask my brother to endure the crawlspace in the basement). Sort of FAIL.

And now I'm feeling frustrated that I can't fix the pain and uncertainty that one of my little chicks is going thru right now. She definitely has her head squarely on her shoulders, but it's been a really tough year of some colossally difficult circumstances, and I can feel the burden she's bearing. The mother hen in me wants a magic wand to wave over her and make it all go away. I wan't to be able to say, "the decisions you make today are the right ones and from now on you'll be happy and satisfied."

But life doesn't work that way, and it frustrates the hell out of me. All I can offer is an open heart, a shoulder to lean (and cry) on, a big ear for listening, and an assurance that I'll be there no matter what.

But for me, that's not enough. I want to step in and say, "Do this. Then do that. DON'T do that one thing, but do a little bit of this other thing." You know, just give her a list of instructions on how to fix everything. But I know I don't have all the answers. Even the answers that I DO have can't be imposed on someone else. We all have to scrape our way along in life... it's the bloody knuckles that make us strong, give us character.

But I still want a magic wand. Dammit.