May 18, 2019
Once your kids are grown and have families of their own, the opportunities to connect one-on-one with them can be hard to come by, especially for any length of time. Last night, son Matt and I drove to Pittsburgh to attend the national USCCA convention. Informative seminars and more vendors and products than I could imagine, we spent a full five hours wandering around, listening to spiels and trying out products before deciding to come home a day early. Seminars we could afford to miss coupled with the unexpected death of a close friend meant that there was no real reason to stay for another day.
We both enjoy the shooting sports, so this convention simply gave us an excuse to spend this time together, and I think we did a pretty good job of it. Linda and I have often watched young parents trying to be best friends with their kids, and when given the opportunity, remind them that their kids have lots of friends and don’t need parents to take on that role. They need parents to be parents. We never worried much if our kids liked us. Our job was to do the often difficult work of training young minds and spirits to become responsible adults. I remember years ago telling a young father that if you do your job early on, when your kids are grown, you can be friends. Matt and I had that opportunity this weekend, and I got to enjoy the fruit of our early labors. I sleep tonight a very thankful (old) father.
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