I’ve been Dad (or variations thereof) for 26 years.
That frightening day/night in Guaymas (Sonora, Mexico) seems a long time ago (Happy birthday to LaVay).
Now our middle child is twenty (Happy birthday to Dora a week ago today) and our next-to-youngest is almost seventeen (Happy birthday to Michayla in two weeks).
Twenty-six — my, oh my.
I’d wish for another opportunity to do it over…if it did any good. (Lacking that opportunity, I may post a “Tips for Parents” piece one of these days. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of weeks already.)
May my children and their spouses do better. I made it easy.
That melancholy thought aside, I’m grateful for each of my children (including Shari and Luke).
I’m grateful they want to follow God’s ways.
I’m grateful that (generally speaking) the young do the child rearing.
I’m grateful for Ruby, my wife and partner in this “enterprise.”
I’m grateful for God’s grace. My successes I attribute to Him alone.
Mark, you aren’t there yet, but sometimes in my pondering, I think of the stupid things I did, the opportunities I missed, and the people I unintentionally hurt.
I wouldn’t want to do it again unless I could change things. And if I had the ability to make decisions based on foreknowledge, I probably wouldn’t be where I am now. But whatever tortuous way I got here, it’s probably the best place for me to be. It’s better than I expected and much better than I diserve.
Some trivial things you look back on and regret:
I never did date Amy Sease. What a dumb thing to think about! That was 58 years ago! Yet, she was such a nice girl and I’m convinced that I missed someone important. I hope she, and Margaret Smith had a good life.
But I would go into the Air Force again.