Sharing the Moments

Time seems to fly by more quickly when you’re busy.  Lately, there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day, days in the week, or weeks in the month to get everything done.  This is part of the reason why it has been several weeks since my last posting.  The other reason is that my days have been fairly repetitive, leaving less to work with in the way of inspiration.  A small part may also be due to some burnout on my part.  Whatever the case, my plan is to start posting with more regularity again.

While I have been particularly busy with one of my projects, I have also been spending more time with my family since the school year ended.  During this time I’ve noticed that the bond that I have with my son has been taken to a whole new level.  He and I have always been very close for a number of reasons, not the least of which is sports.  It has always been a big part of our bond since he was old enough to pick up a ball and attend live sporting events.  However, his attention span for sports on TV wasn’t always very long (other than football, which is his favorite), so I basically watched everything else by myself…until recently.

As my wife and daughter slept, my son and I would stay up and watch the Stanley Cup and the NBA Finals.  We couldn’t have picked a better year to start doing so.  The storylines and the games were better than any that I can remember in recent years.  The resiliency shown by teams that were basically written off by sports reporters and fans was an excellent lesson for me to teach my son while we were enjoying the games.  But even if there was no lesson to be learned, I still looked forward to each game because it is a great bonding experience.  Truth be told, I’ve been looking forward to this moment ever since the doctor uttered the words…“It’s a boy!”

Sharing these moments with my son is something that means more to me than any words can ever describe.  It is especially meaningful to me in light of the fact that our move from New York to Texas last summer had my son very distraught.  Even though the move was meant to make his life better, I still had tremendous guilt feelings for uprooting him and taking him away from the only place that he has ever called “home.” Thankfully, he adjusted to the move even better than I could have hoped for.  His grades in school for the year were in a stratosphere that I never even came close to (finishing the year with a 97, 98, 99 and 100) in the four major subjects.

The grades made me proud, but my greatest satisfaction comes from the fact that he continued to be a “model student.” His teacher told us that her job would be a dream if she had a room full of kids just like him.  But perhaps the most gratifying aspect of the move is the fact that my son has made a lot of friends in his short time here (as evidenced by the amount of kids that he had at his birthday party today).  Even the ones that couldn’t make it because of scheduling conflicts were disappointed that they couldn’t attend.

As I watched my son with all of his friends today, it gave me great pleasure to see him thriving beyond the classroom.  Even though he spent most of the time with his friends, I still felt like we were sharing a special moment together.  When we came home, we played some games and then went to the pool.  Our time in the pool has been another great chance to bond.  It doesn’t matter whether we are swimming or playing water football or just hanging out and talking.  It’s always a good time!

Sometimes it can be difficult to see how fast the kids are growing up.  I think that most parents want to freeze time to some degree to make these moments last longer.  I am certainly no exception to this way of thinking.  But at least I can take solace in the fact that, as the days pass by, the bond between my son and me only continues to grow stronger with every shared moment.