If I had it to do all over

My Dear Professor had a philosophy professor whose wife once told us she wanted her tombstone to read, "if I had it to do all over again, I would have raised golden retrievers." She thought that would have been easier than rearing their children.

I can't say the same. I enjoyed our children, most of the time.



If I had it to do all over again, I would have been a better parent. More aware of who these little people were, what they were feeling and seeing, how their tender hearts were being shaped, instead of being preoccupied with trying to modify their behavior so they wouldn't embarrass me in public. Isn't it ironic that parents are concerned with their young children embarrassing them in public, then when those same children become teenagers the shoe is on the other foot? Or is that just one of life's little gifts?

Somehow they managed to turn out pretty well in spite of our parenting awkwardness, for which I am truly grateful. One is married, the father of our 3 sprittles, and a bivocational pastor(church on Sun, high school math teacher the rest of the week); one is the chair of the social studies dept in a large southwestern high school, and one just graduated from college. (Can you figure out who is who from the photo above?)

I love them all, and am incredibly proud of who they have become and what they have accomplished.

I just wish I had taken more time to be a better Mommy.

But then, what Mommy doesn't?