One of my favorite songs is "Cats in the Cradle.'' You can google it if you're not familiar with it, but it's about a father who never had time for his son when he was growing up and then when the son grew up, he didn't have time to spend with his father. And the father says his son had grown up just like him.
The song resonates with me because I call myself a recovering workaholic who spent too much time chasing his career and not enough with his two daughters. They both turned out well and are responsible adults and I have a good relationship with them now, but I know I let time slip away that I could have spent with them.
I was reminded of this when I read an inspiring post by Emmy on Right Turn Without Signaling (
rtws.blogspot.com). If you type it in (I am not good with links) you want to read a post called Childhood Memories.
It's about how she grew up the daughter of parents who would qualify as working poor and lived paycheck to paycheck. They didn't have health insurance (she had surgery at 6 and her mother paid it off at $5 a week until she was 20) but made just enough that they didn't qualify for free lunches but they got reduced lunches and free cheese and butter the government handed out. She talks about all the things she didn't have growing up.
And then she talks about all the things she did have -- her parents time. She writes, "Stuff comes and go -- but memories, memories are what you take with you. They don't get lost in a fire. They don't get lost. They don't get misplaced. And they don't cost you money.''
You have to read the whole post to understand how inspiring it is. And if you kids are still living with you, try to spend more time with them. It is an investment that pays rich dividends.
And now for a rant alert that you may want to skip. I am reading the book "Too Big To Fail'' about the excesses of the bankers who almost ruined the economy. And how sad we live in a country that doesn't provide health insurance and free lunches for the working poor while the rich waste millions on creative comforts they don't need. I could go on, but don't want to get too far off topic.
If you read her post -- it's now the third one down -- it is a reminder that you never regret spending time with your kids.
FD