Just wait.
Your teenagers will make you laugh. Sometimes it will be because they were trying to be funny, and sometimes not. You’ll typically know the difference, which will make it even better.
They’ll introduce you to music you didn’t know existed. You’ll hate some of it, but sometimes, you’ll listen to the playlist they made on your phone even when they’re not around. Sometimes they’ll even surprise you by knowing one of “your” songs.
They’ll impress you with their perceptiveness. They’ll observe things about themselves, and you, your family culture, and the world, that will make you stop and think, or laugh in recognition.
Back when I was on FB, it was pretty easy to make the decision only to connect with people I knew in real life. On IG, it’s a little easier to slowly add folks who have interesting style, pursuits, or perspectives. So there are quite a few people on my feed who I don’t know personally.
That’s a little weird for me. I like that I can connect and be inspired creatively by these folks, but sometimes they share their opinions and then I quietly set my phone down and have an existential crisis.
I spent my childhood going on camping trips. In my memory, we went several times every summer. The cool nights, the many rainy afternoons spent in our tents reading books or playing cards, and peering out the window of the camper to see a skunk making its way across the campsite loom large in recollection.
As an adult, every camping trip I’ve taken until now has been with my parents. They’ve provided an extra tent for our growing family, blankets when someone forgot a sleeping bag, and logistical support with meals. I’ve never had to fully plan and execute a trip by myself.
Then, friends of our invited us to go camping with them this summer. We’re now quickly approaching the weekend in question, and at 40, I’m making my first solo camping trip with my family, but without my parents.
I wanted to write a sweet memory post about this little dude today, on the day he turns four.
It was hard to get in the mood for this type of nostalgic, reflective writing. Honesty, I’m still not in the mood. We’re all in a bad way today. School burnout. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, everyone.
The kids keep reminding the baby of all the things he SHOULD get on his birthday, like special food and presents, when no presents have been bought (because he’s four, doesn’t need anything, and but for the reminders from others, really wouldn’t care), and the cake hasn’t been made yet.
Most people have heard the line from the Bible about loving your neighbor as yourself. If you don’t know the rest of the story, in the biblical context, everyone is your neighbor.
Here are three good books unified around a theme of neighbors and how we treat ours. These books contain big T truth – the Truth that comes through in any medium where there is space for it to dwell.
