As the holiday season wraps up, I can’t help but realize what good sports the members of my family are.
We each made efforts to show the others that they’re loved and appreciated. And I think it worked. But things haven’t always turned out the way we wanted. Although my wife and I scheme to do something special for the kids, our plans don’t always work out for reasons of scheduling or resources.
I’ve made plans for quality time with the kids that just hasn’t panned out. For example, we haven’t opened up the new board game that I’m so excited about, and I don’t know when we will.
But when I look back on the past few days, I realize what some of my favorite moments have been:
Sitting in the car in the rain with my wife, chatting about nothing, watching TV with my daughter, and reading a book with my son.
And they all seemed to like it too. I was suspicious at first, because I felt like I owed it to them to do something more special for them. Why did my son say “that was a good book” when I knew he wasn’t a Star Wars fan? I thought at first he was just being nice for my sake, but I think some of it is that he just liked the time together, regardless of the book.
I’ll still make plans for quality time with the family. But when those plans fall though, I’ll have to remember that any time we spend together is valuable. It doesn’t have to be some grand event. Any time we spend together will do.
Who We Were Then
- David
- Lillian
- Maddie (12 years old)
- Aaron (9 years old)