Leonard Nimoy as Spock (Thanks, and we miss you already)
My in-laws now live near us, so we can include them in celebrations, or just drop by to visit. Of course my wife is with them to help navigate doctors, health insurance, and the other great mysteries of life.
Our son is headed into his final year in high school; our daughter headed to her freshman year.
In the meantime, my older son and his wife, who are up in New England (it’s true- “You can’t get there from here.”) have added a second granddaughter to our favorite grandson and our first granddaughter.
Life keeps us busy. One of us is attending to parent, child, pet, neighbor or whatever, while the other is equally busy (or busier) elsewhere. It’s bad enough that we pass one another like “two ships passing in the night.” When either of us passes ourselves as we scurry from one duty to another, that’ll grab your attention.
Today I realized that I’ve been parenting for forty years. That should count for something (free perpetual VIP access for all the great bands of my youth, [Eagles. Jimmy Buffet, the Who, Jethro Tull, etc.], as well as all first class cruises, AND an ambassadorship to France, Germany, England, Japan, or Poland, at the minimum).
Alas, that’s not how it works. Instead, as time goes on, we focus even more on others rather than on ourselves.
But then Jesus, Himself, said, “The student is not greater than the master,” and He came to serve, not be served.
I’ll keep trying to follow His example, and in another forty years, maybe I’ll have figured out how to do parenting correctly.
Or, maybe not.
*with apologies to Gene Rodenberry
sfnowak 