For the last several days my wife has been in Ohio spending time with her grandfather, who is in rather poor health. She took our daughter with her, leaving me and our son at home alone. We timed it so that over the four day period I was only working one, allowing me to be at home with him and only needing to rely on my father-in-law for one day while I was working. I very much miss my wife and am eager to have her come home this afternoon. But I've also had a great experience with my son over the last few days.
He's 10 years old and a very good, sweet boy. I've tried to take the opportunity to spend more time with him, as there are few distractions and I didn't have many chores around the house. We played video games together, something that I don't always make time for. We watched G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. Saturday night we went out for pizza together. We've talked and just had fun time as father and son.
Much of this makes me think of my own father as I grew up. We would go see movies together that my mother didn't want to see. We would regularly get lunch at Cousin's Pizza, a local independent pizzeria in the mall. We would talk and joke around and just enjoy time together. I was reminded of all of that as I did similar things with my own son, and looked back on those memories with great fondness. Even though my father and I have had our arguments and disagreements, he was (and still is) a great father who raised me well and has left me with many great memories.
Now I find myself in similar situations with my own son. I've thought about the problems my dad and I have had and wonder if I'll go through the same things with my son. Obviously kids are always going to have disagreements with their parents and there is some inevitability there, but I also hope to learn from the lessons of the past and perhaps change a few things (likely creating new problems in the process). I also have thought about the wonderful times I had with my father and want to be able to give my son similar memories.
And so the cycle continues. In another 30 years I bet my son will be thinking similar things.
