The Aerie
I was becoming increasingly upset at life.
I've said for many years that my life was like a runaway subway car,
and the weekends were all the stations flashing past. Time passes so
quickly that I'm still writing "19" on my checks.
So I was becoming increasingly disgusted with how quickly my children
were growing while I went on missing their lives. It's the typical
"Cat's in the Cradle" scenario: I'm working my ass off in order to
provide for the family and the future, and my kids are getting older
without me. Made me want to kick Harry Chapin down a flight of stairs
while shouting "Fine, YOU pay for their college education, wiseguy!"
But there was no denying it: my twins were allofasudden eleven, and my
youngest was eight. Pretty soon they were going to be teenagers and
then, I assumed, my "bonding time" would be pretty limited.
So this year's resolution included something drastic. This year, I
simply decided that I'm taking each of my three kids for an afternoon
once a month, and we're going to "do something." A movie. A sports
event. Just a long walk. Whatever we do, we'd do it together.
Well three months into it I have to say it's pretty successful. I've
taken my kids, one at a time, to wander the infinite hallways of the
Mall of America (always good in the winter), to Chuck E. Cheese for a
migraine-inducing several hours of electromagnetic stimulation, to
movies such as "Swept Away", and this weekend to [1]Mech Wars
It's definitely not "simple", and it definitely involves placing a
high priority on actually taking the day and going out, but it's well
worth it. It's kind of like having kid visitation, without the
difficulties of divorce. And it's offered the opportunity for good
conversations with all my kids, including my daughter.
In fact, we were getting in the car on the way back from the Mall of
America on our first trip in January when my daughter said to me "Dad,
did you and Mom have sex together before you were married?" Startled,
I could only stammer, "Well, uh, yes." which led to a discussion of
whether premarital sex is a good idea. This from an eleven year old.
It makes me glad I scheduled these now, so she could ask ME -- rather
than her middle school peers -- about the topic.
[2]Last
Posted by Albatross at April 7, 2003 12:00 AM