I have to be getting old. My first son will turn 28 this week. My wife and I stopped by to visit my mother in law yesterday afternoon and I picked up a box of old pictures and starting looking through them. I saw some photos when we were at the beach years ago and David was just a little kid. My goodness time has flown by. Seems like just yesterday that David was just a little bitty knocker and my hair was just a little bit browner than it is today.
And my goodness how times have changed.
David and his wife, Holly, flew out to Portland this weekend to watch the Davis Cup Tennis Championship. Kathy and I used to go to Atlanta for the weekend every now and then to catch a Braves game when we were their age, but I don’t remember running to Portland for the weekend. More power to ‘em.
For you folks with young kids I’ll give you one piece of advice and one word of warning.
The advice is that you should enjoy every minute you have with those kids entrusted to your care. Nothing and I mean NOTHING is more important than the time you spend with them. If you are too busy to spend time with your kids, you are too busy. Period. One day you will be very glad you did or very sorry you did not.
The word of warning is they will never get so old that you are not worried about them or breathing a sigh of relief when you know they are home safely. When our kids were teenagers I could never fall completely asleep until I heard their car pull in the driveway. I thought that would be over when they grew up and moved out of the house.
It still is not over.
Between hanging Christmas lights this afternoon and running to the store to get stuff we needed to get the lights on, I was keeping up with a jet flying across the country. Thanks to the internet this gray-haired dad could track the 757 his son and daughter in law were riding this afternoon. This picture shows their plane flying over Colorado at 4:55PM.
And about 7:30 tonight when I knew the plane had landed I breathed a sigh of relief.
It never really ends. A son is always a son. The only thing that changes is you gain a daughter in law. Now there is an extra person to care about and worry about.
But trust me. I would not trade places with anybody.
Anywhere.
But being a dad never ends.
2 comments:
You are so sweet. We had a great time in Portland! The USA beat Russia and we saw some great tennis. It was also so neat to see that part of the country. We had a blast; glad we got out of town before the storm hit. Thanks for checking on us. We love you.
Holly
Ever since becoming a mother 14 years ago, I've had a sneaking suspicion that the worry never will end; you've just confirmed it. Thanks! (I think!) :)
Now, off to spend time with my boys...
LL in SC
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