Here you see Owen Arthur Just, my 18 month-old son, running by the turtles at the Naples Zoo in Florida (not Italy). Watching Owen and Frankie over the past year has been joyful indeed.
We're a busy family. Probably too busy. With Brian all over the map working on improving bell peppers for a seed company, and with me devoting 20+ hours a week to administering a program for faith development at the liberal and non-creedal Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers as well as teaching the odd online lit or comp course, I often find myself making hurried and anxious decisions about the course of each day. Is this my time for the big "ah-ha" moment? Am I working out this essential thing called balance?
The kids are central to our love and happiness and we strive to give them the time and attention they need each day. I look to the families I know with older kids and I try to take stock. Some of these kids are too far gone into the mindless video game netherworld; some of these kids just seem angry, too. I worry that I will fall short as a parent and the result will be one of the above or something worse. But I flip flop. Call me John Kerry then. I flip flop.
I know that we do a great job with the kids! I know that they are loved fully and treated with respect! Their lives are full of enrichment and exploration! So, to quote the Harry Potter instructor, "Constant Vigilance!" There's my Stoic reflection of the year! (Want to see another exclamation point!)
