It’s so amazing how it’s not only children who grow, us parents do too. As we gain insights about ourselves these can be very powerful lessons we can miss if we are not in tune to receive it. I remember this incident that happened a while back that woos my soul every time I remember and reflect on it.
Around 9:00PM one night about a year ago, I put my sons Riley and Micah, to bed after an incredible day with them both. It was a frustrating day that was filled with screaming matches, crying, accidents with potty training (we had been working hard on that one) and meltdowns. Friends, that day was one of the days that both of my boys really wore me out completely – I needed a parental time out.
During the week we usually have one day where either myself or my wife spend the entire day with them, without taking them to daycare, and it was my turn to keep them. I thought that I could get some business done by making my calls from my home office with the door open so I could keep an eye on both boys.
Lets just say that was a bad idea. My younger son had just started walking two months earlier and he was climbing and reaching higher for stuff off the bookshelves and on top of the tables. He discovered his legs and I guess he had all that stored up energy as he got tired of crawling and now he was putting it to use running through my office.
Quite frustrated I finally had resigned to the fact after about four hours or so that when I have the day with my sons even though I will try to squeeze some work in, hardly any work will get done if any. At that moment I remembered a story that a nurse at the hospital once told me.
It was about a successful businessman whose father passed away who was going through his fathers belongings after his funeral. His father was a very busy diplomat who was always traveling. As he found his dad’s old journals he was so excited. At last he could have something to help him remember and even connect deeper to the dad he treasured and loved so much.
As he was going through the ones his dad kept in his early years the businessman couldn’t help but remember that afternoon, when he was ten years old, that day after school when he and his dad went fishing and how special it made him feel. They didn’t catch but one small fish but to him, a young boy the it was incredible. As a child he always remembered that day. He felt like as busy as his dad was, that day he came by and they spent an entire afternoon together, Just both of them.
His dad was always busy with traveling and all the time the son felt that that day was the best memory he had to treasure.
At last he found that month of that year of their fishing date, then the day and with anticipation he looked through the entry for that day with excitement just to see what his dad thought of that special day. To his shock this is what his dad’s entry read. ” Spent the afternoon with my son, went fishing…. what a waste of time”
So as I remember that story all the frustrations I was feeling suddenly left me and all that was replaced with joy and gratitude as I realized that my boys were the reason I wanted to always be working from home in the first place…
