Doing something right

Why as parents is it so easy for us to believe we might be screwing our kids up instead of doing the right thing....Oh yes I know because they keep telling us we are mean, their friends parents are not mean, we don't do anything right. So finding out that I am a predictable parent and that my children know it must mean that I AM DOING SOMETHING RIGHT....imagine my shock when I found that out!!! This is how I discovered this...amazing thing. Allissa is going out for track and has conned her sister in to running with her so she is in shape, they talked mom into letting them run on the dirt road...we live for those that don't know a mile and a quarter off a blacktop road (or beyond BFE if you ask my brother) so I am far from worried about anything happening.
They asked to go the other night about 7:15 (it gets dark about 8) I let them thinking they can't go very far, they will get tired and come back before dark........this is the part where I underestimated my children. 7:45 Duane, Jake and I start picking up the equipment we are using outside and head in, 8 o'clock and still no children.....starting to freak...ask Duane if I should drive up the road and get them....his answer: yell out the backdoor they can't be far....soooo I yell...No answer.....MORE FREAKED, maybe more so because the husband isn't. I give up waiting get in the car and drive up the road, 1/2 mile no girls, 1 mile no girls almost 1mile and a 1/4 two smiling faces :)!!!! Start to lecture them about being home before dark and Allissa turns to me and states "We knew if it got to dark you would come get us, you wouldn't leave us out here in the dark where something might happen to us, so we just kept running to see if we could make it to the blacktop even though we knew it was getting dark." All I could think is oh my gosh do you have any idea how lucky you are to have parents that are predictable. I work with kids everyday that don't have a clue what their parents next move might be and here are two beautiful little girls that wanted to meet their own personal goal and knew in doing so it wouldn't matter how dark it got their parents would be their to make sure they stayed safe......I so hope they never lose that feeling!!