Does a Mom ever stop being a Mom?

Greg and Scott as they get ready to leave this morning.
Greg packed up like he is ready to climb Mount Everest.
And I still worry he may not have enough!Aw...but the kid looks happy, doesn't he?


So, the age old question that I already know the answer to is when does a Mom quit worrying and let her kids go? I know the answer is never, but I think that in the back of my mind I was thinking there would be a different answer somehow. Oh sure, there have been times when there was MORE worry and even times when there was LESS worry....but if you love your kids, then the worry just comes with it.
I've had friends with much more faith than my thimble-ful that say they turn it over to God and then they simply don't worry. I just think that God expects us to rely on him but to also be there to help him do his job too! I think of the many times when my worrying actually paid off. When that hunch or that prickly feeling a Mom gets on the back of her neck that something is just not right...like when your daughter makes plans to spend the night with a friend she has never hung out with but thinks you just won't call that mom to check on the plans....or when a daughter might be in junior high and want to go with friends to the fair and (God knows where else) and they aren't getting picked up in your driveway but rather down the block a ways....or when a son tells his mom something serious that you know he has told no one else on the planet but you.
When Rachel moved to Boston, I thought that I would never sleep a full night again for the rest of my life. But I did....eventually. Through the snow storms and getting locked out of her apartment, dealing with her life as a single girl in a place on her own. The drama of junior and high school nearly killed me with Mary Beth. Some of the girls she had for "friends" were some of the worst enemies one could ever imagine having! And she is such a good friend that I always hurt when she did and worry when they were gone on trips together, wondering if I was going to have to whip some teenagers when they got back. just kidding.
And now Greg has left for a long weekend hiking trip into the mountains with his friend, Scott. Scott has a plan, a map and these boys have been in that area before. But, somehow my little worry brain is working tonight. As I sit in the house with the heat on and my fuzzy socks from Christmas on, I worry if he is keeping warm. I worry if he got enough to eat tonight and did they take enough water to drink. You would think he is 10 instead of 20, wouldn't you?
I guess there will always be something for moms to worry about. That's what makes us moms. We hug, we love, we text, we email, we call, we fuss, we drive you crazy....but we have to. It's a genetic thing that we must do. And I wouldn't have it any other way.