My wife raised five kids. Two are married now. This week, she wrote out her job description for the new season. Mother of married children. I have not stopped thinking about it. Her list: Love their spouses like my own children. Pray for their marriages. Daily. Encourage them when it gets hard. It gets hard. Never assume authority in their home. I have none there. Never speak a negative word about their spouse. To them or to anybody. Support their decisions as a couple without feeling entitled to an opinion. Model what I want them to become. Character. Forgiveness. Growth. And the last one. The one that costs the most: Accept that I now hold a less important place in my children's lives. And accept it with grace. Twenty-four years married. She learned the hardest job a mother ever gets is the demotion. Nobody teaches this. She just did.