Little m Long a

Aw…that’s sweet…..

Not so fast, I say.  Just seconds prior to snapping this shot I had to stop them from literally attempting to shove each other off of the enormous rock on which they are perched.

The thing about your kids getting older — as if there was just one thing and you could possibly encapsulate coming of age with a simple synopsis — anyway, the thing about your kids getting older is that you find yourself less of a presence in their significant experiences.  Oh, you’re still around, you know, close enough to offer instruction or gleam some sort of lesson of lasting import.  Just not close enough, it seems, to curtail unwise decisions.

The thing about your kids getting older is that life is now imparting instruction not just you.

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Always tell the truth.  That way, you never have to remember what you said. Mark Twain

According to legend, and other manuscripts held in general high regard, there are ten commandments.  Ten rather specific edicts which, if  followed closely, serve a fairly good moral foundation.  Arguably, a person that holds to these tenets would be in pretty good standing with the rest of society.  God, too.

Conversely, the person (whomever he or she may be) that voluntarily acts in such a manner that directly opposes these ten simple rules would as a result fail to maintain such elevated standing with society.  Or her parents.

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So we’re in the car yesterday, as we often are,  and we’re having a conversation, as we often do.  I’m not quite sure where the conversation turned or how it got here, but it did.

Maura expressed her deep love of all things football.  I echoed my fondness and Zane chimed in as well.  Then Zoë spoke up,

“Well, I don’t like football.  I thinks it’s dumb.”

In horror, he may have even shrieked, Zane said, “Anyone who doesn’t like football will have to leave the family.”

To which Zoë nonchalantly replied, “I don’t care.”

Without missing a beat, Zane shot back at her, “Fine!  Best of luck at the orphanage, Zoë.  I hope they have good gruel.”