Teach Your Children

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

-- Crosby, Stills, and Nash

Become yourself... It is my birthday today. I took the day off work to relax and just do things I want to do. I spend most of my days "doing for others" so I think it's okay if I'm a little selfish for just one day. I'm going to do some genealogy, get a massage, go out to dinner with my girls, and write a little. I'm sitting in my chair watching my cat play with his toys, and taking joy in that simple thing. And reflecting...

When I was half this age, what would I care about taking pleasure from watching a cat? My husband tells me a cat story and I laugh. My daughters joke that my husband and I spend too much time talking to the cat. I don't think it's that we're becoming silly cat people who don't know what to do with ourselves now that our children are grown. I think it's that we're getting to a point in life where we're willing to hand over the reins to a younger generation. We're enjoying the successes of our children.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

We're happy to sit back and relax at the end of our day. To enjoy the little things that we didn't have time for when we were 25 and trying to juggle jobs and babies and mortgages and 50 friends and 500 life opportunities. We've experienced those opportunities and are glad we did and now we need to relax a little. And watching the birds and talking about the cat is a pleasant contrast.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

Old? Nope. I hope not. There's still a lot I want to do. I'm just not in such a hurry to do it. And I'm realizing some of the to-do things are little things, that can be just as important to savor as the big monumental things.

And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Can you hear and do you care and
Can't you see we must be free
To teach your children what you believe in.
Make a world that we can live in.

Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

I read once that wisdom is earned with tears. It is also learned with love and service and patience. I think I've got the first three down. I've been working on that last one all my life. I'm in a better place now to slow down and work on it, and actually enjoy what comes of it.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.