The first lines of Dante's classic Inferno, part one of the three part Divine Comedy, are:

"Midway upon the journey of our life,

I found myself within a forest dark,

For the straightforward pathway has been lost."

And that is the  good part.  The succeeding cantos of The Inferno take the reader down deeper into the rings of Hell and lower depths of sin. 

I am pretty far past that midway upon the journey of my life, and can turn back and see the path I have taken.  Sometimes the path has been lost, then found, and then I have found myself on a different pathway altogether, at times straightforward and other times quite crooked and in a forest dark.  Not unlike most of us, I imagine. 

But keep reading.  In the third book, Paradiso, things are much better than in the Inferno.  Here is how that book starts off:

"The glory of Him who moveth everything,

Doth penetrate the universe, and shine,

In one part more than in another less."

This is a lot better than how things were in the Inferno, but still we see in some "parts" the glory of Him shines less than in others.  Maybe that is what leads to getting lost in the forest on the straighforward pathway, I don't know.  We surely can all use a little more light now and then.

I look at my tiny grandchildren. They have not even started on their pathways.  My oldest is almost two and a half and she is still trying to figure out how to pee in a potty. My youngest just found his toes.  One of my sons is in law school,  and as with my other two children and step children, clearly on a pathway that so far doth have some nice shining light. 

I hope they do not get too lost, and when they do it is not for too long, and in not too dark a forest, and that they always find the part where the light is shining. I hope when they are my age, they can look back at a good straighforward path.

I am sure that is as good a Mother's Day wish a mother can have.

Happy Mother's Day.