lots of parallels

Yesterday my mom was equally as dispondent as I about her own projects. One of them was the fact that as Secretary in two of her NGO's, she is one of the hardest working people in the group. I have seen the President call her constantly for reference material and advise on several occassions!Mom was supposed to go to France this year with her group, but in typical fashion, a few of the members at the top decided to splinter off and go without really telling anyone how they could have also gone to Rome. They also went like tourists, where the findings that they should have come back with and reports they should have written where really quite half assed! All of this annoyed my mom of course. So yesterday mom is strongly consideing resigning from this group she has been in for a staggering 40 years! I had a serious talk with my mom about this labor of love group she has been in forever. We concluded that there are things that she clearly loves about the group. We looked at it hinestly and also at the things that drive her crazy and disappoint her. It took some doing, as the whole thing also has some nostalgia to it and there is also a bit of ego too. By helping my mom with her decision, I also heard what I too was learning with my own decisions on the ngo I am involved in and also my job. For both of us, we are people who commit to what we do. We stay the course sometimes at our peril. We enjoy what we do and we want to do more, but we also know only too well that we cannot do what we do for free. We have to make our contributions such that it is without question that the things we want to get out of doing the things we do, actually come to pass. We both want to be published. We do want other people to be more responsible and pro-active. So this is where we both are, and we now know how we shall go forward.