Chip Shots

Our son, Kyle, was probably nine years old when we went out for a rare steak dinner. His kid’s meal came complete with ice cream. Why is it that the kids always get the good stuff? Naturally, dad wanted to sample his booty. Without a second thought, I reached for a dad-sized scoop. "No," he said, defending his ice cream with a spoon. "It's mine!" Surprised, I said, "But didn’t I pay for it?” "Then buy yourself some," he retorted. We had some good-natured banter, but I it troubled me. After all, I was the one who had paid for his meal. Asking him to share it seemed like an appropriate expectation, and would have been grateful gesture on his part. Yes, as he indicated, we could just have easily bought some ice cream for ourselves. But that wasn't really the point. It was his selfish attitude which concerned me more than my need for ice cream. Which got me thinking.... Aren't we as selfish and short-sighted as my son when we refuse to share o...

I looked at my cell phone. The screen said, “Kurt.” Answering with a bit of hesitation, I said, “Hi; how’d it go?” “I passed,” he said. “Congratulations! Are you driving right now?” “No, but Mom’s taking me to get a wallet.” And so it is that another chapter of parenting comes to a (screeching?) close. For the first time in 23 years there is no child who needs us behind the wheel in order to drive somewhere. I know, it’s only a permit; there are still five months of semi-dependency. But still…. Our youngest is now our tallest. Seems only yesterday that he was the smallest. And wasn’t it only a last week that he would fall asleep in the high chair while still chewing food? Today he’s a strapping young man with four inches on his dad, excelling in soccer, in school, and most importantly, in life. Tomorrow I suppose he’ll follow his siblings to a southern California university. And we’ll be alone. Our nest will be empty. Although we imagine it someday multiplied with new sons, daughters a...