When you are too tired to go on, but you just can’t stand to give up, there is that nagging little notion that if you just keep doing something it will matter somehow.
That is how I feel about parenting today. With one child nearing college and another on the cusp of high school I just don’t have all the answers anymore. What in the world do I have to offer them now that they don’t need the crumbs wiped off their face and they already know how to read? When my oldest tells me he would rather go to community college and stay close to home than take a chance on his biggest dream all I could do was yell “NO” and sulk. I am the product of not following any tangible dream I ever had as a kid. So I get to steer him through my minefield of regret and lost opportunity, right? Last night, I just shut him down after twenty minutes of circular arguments and arguing. See, he is this shining light of possibility, with all this talent and ability and desire and drive wrapped up in a block stamp of his father. So that’s the problem. He looks, acts, thinks, and reacts like his dad but he dreams like his mom. Shit, I am worse off than I thought.
