As a Parent, You Want to Take Care of Them and their Kids Forever!
Several years ago, we were in Virginia either taking my daughter Elizabeth to school or visiting. Either way we were driving down the main drag in Williamsburg when we received a phone call from the home were my mother was living. The home was requesting my permission to take away her phone, Mom suffered from Parkinson’s disease and the medication she was taking often left her with very real delusions. These delusions often resulted in her thinking that people came in buses to take residents from the home to Ohio, She luckily had not been among those chosen to be removed! Other delusions included a fear of being arrested because one of the nurses hid cocaine in her stuffed monkey. At the time of the phone call, she believed that one of the male residents was out to kill her and that night she had called 911 because he was in her room!! Needless to say, there was no man, but the home still had to call me to get permission to take her phone to avoid any repeats of the mess she created
Sometime after that incident mom wasn’t taking her medicine and things were getting worse. We decided that what we would do was to tell her we weren’t coming anymore until see took her medicine. When we called my cousin to tell her that was what we were doing,she went off on my wife saying that we didn’t care, and that everything was about our kids! Finally she told my wife we had to stop doing for them because they were grownups and we had to let them go!” Now I will say that my cousin was always great with my mom, but she was wrong about needing to let go of our kids. As a parent that is impossible! They are your kids, they come first, and they always will!
Since then my oldest son his moved out and lives by himself in Mount Laurel. My two middle sons have married and both have made us grandparents and my daughter has lived on here own in Delaware while attending graduate school at the University of Delaware. So they are all on their own and doing fine, But guess what they are still “our kids” and we still have to do for them, in a good way!
Obviously, one way is the babysitting I do for my grandchildren, I love it and I know it help them out!! Last Saturday was a great day and a perfect example of how you need to help out!! The morning started with me taking my daughter to a training session for her summer job. The training was being held in a school about 30 minutes away. I took her because a friend was picking her up they were going to a concert in Philly in the afternoon., After the concert they come back to our house, Where by the way, they were both going to get to see Miss Zoe!!
In the afternoon, I took my oldest son out car shopping, His 2001 Hyundai Elantra which has been in the family forever is on its last legs.We had gone out earlier in the week, saw some possible used cars but the deals weren’t right. But Saturday evening, we found a good deal and he bought a new car, yeah!! See I hate car shopping, but you have to do what you have to do!!
Saturday ended nicely when Peter and Missy brought baby Zoe over, so that we all got to see her! Peter and Missy had been out shopping and stopped first at the car dealership to check out the car and then came to the house!
The only way the day could have been better is if we had been able to see Andrew. Meaghan and Oliver, too. Because you see it IS all about “our kids” and now :”their kids” are added into the mix and that’s the way that I think it’s supposed to be!!
Featured Picture: Zoe’s biggest smiles came, when she was pn her daddy’s shoulders!
