When the twins began their college experiences the world was in turmoil. Covid changed the rules about who can travel when, and which reasons for gathering are valid, and which are forbidden. In ways that astonish me they still managed to get visas, find housing, register for classes, figure out which of those classes were
in person and which were virtual, and navigate public transportation. Attendance was a moving target, and yet they both adapted and even earned academic credits in a second language.
Three years later Hope is closing in on her degree, since the French system believes that amount of time to be sufficient. But for different reasons, university life is again tumultuous. The
French are partial to protests, and the current theme is the retirement age. I am not sure I paid attention to such things in my early twenties, but the University of Grenoble is experiencing demonstrations. Some buildings are closed, others have no power. There are police everywhere, and even finding lunch has become a scavenger hunt. Handling the uncertainty on top of actual exams and papers is a different strain of stress.
It sounds hard.
I might wish I could barricade my daughters from these outbursts. But I have no illusions for that. Facing the limits of my capacity to support them is diametrically opposed to the charade I acted out for the first sixteen years of their lives, the ones in which I believed I could
always protect them.
As the belief that I was their safe harbor recedes, there is more room for the real truth to dawn.
"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.” Psalm 91