Permit Me a Moment, Please
Today the Toothpick posted a facebook update: “1 week before I move!” His excitement awakens my trepidation. This time next week, we’ll be in a hotel room in Grantham, PA trying to get excited minds quieted enough to get a decent night’s sleep before move-in day at Messiah College on August 27. I’ve had that date memorized for months.
I collect quotes … some of them are posted on my “Quote Library” blog. Earlier this week, a friend who spent her summer in South Africa returned my journal from my 1999 South Africa mission trip to me. I didn’t fill the whole journal up, so I had used the back pages to record some quotes I found in a book at my parents’ house almost 10 years ago. One of those quotes kind of tugged at the dad in me, and is even more poignant now. At the risk of becoming mired in the goo of hyper-sentimentalism (trust me, I am generally well-balanced about these kinds of things), I share it with you:
Next week is going to take us deeper into this strange territory for us. Though it’s a normal passage, annually travelled by parents everywhere, and already travelled by some of Toothpick’s classmates’ parents (note the proper placement of the apostrophes, people), we’ve never been here before. Toothpick’s peer circle will now include people we have never, and perhaps will never meet. We will no longer have the opportunity of daily conversation to keep us “in the know” about his experiences. Etc.
The past few weeks, kind people in town have been asking us the kinds of questions that kind people ask to parents about to send a kid to college. Among the things they ask is how we are handling it. So far we’re fine, but I have a feeling that I’m going to have the toughest time of the family. Bittersweet? Yeah, like that.
No real big point to today’s Musings, just a peek inside my heart … And that IS enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.
I collect quotes … some of them are posted on my “Quote Library” blog. Earlier this week, a friend who spent her summer in South Africa returned my journal from my 1999 South Africa mission trip to me. I didn’t fill the whole journal up, so I had used the back pages to record some quotes I found in a book at my parents’ house almost 10 years ago. One of those quotes kind of tugged at the dad in me, and is even more poignant now. At the risk of becoming mired in the goo of hyper-sentimentalism (trust me, I am generally well-balanced about these kinds of things), I share it with you:
WHAT IS A BOY?
A boy is a bank where you may deposit your most precious treasures – the hard-won wisdom, the dreams for a better world. A boy can guard and protect these, and perhaps invest them wisely and win a profit – one larger than you ever dreamed. A boy will inherit your world. All your work will be judged by him. Tomorrow he will take your place, run your country, your company, your town, your church. He deserves more of your attention NOW.
Next week is going to take us deeper into this strange territory for us. Though it’s a normal passage, annually travelled by parents everywhere, and already travelled by some of Toothpick’s classmates’ parents (note the proper placement of the apostrophes, people), we’ve never been here before. Toothpick’s peer circle will now include people we have never, and perhaps will never meet. We will no longer have the opportunity of daily conversation to keep us “in the know” about his experiences. Etc.
The past few weeks, kind people in town have been asking us the kinds of questions that kind people ask to parents about to send a kid to college. Among the things they ask is how we are handling it. So far we’re fine, but I have a feeling that I’m going to have the toughest time of the family. Bittersweet? Yeah, like that.
No real big point to today’s Musings, just a peek inside my heart … And that IS enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.
posted by Morris at
10:16 PM
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