A Wake Up Call

Gale Hawkins · Aug 21, 2015

Good points.

The time I put into helping the younger folks are some of my best times today at age 64.

Now I am glad we took the time and money to homeschool the kids for example but I was 46 when they were born.

At church I find myself encouraging the 40ish age group to step out on faith more. When we are young the fear of failure can lead to failure. As I age I see how the risks I feared seldom even materialize and when they do they often are quite manageable.

Yes we are going to die sooner or later and should act as if it is going to be sooner than later when it comes to working with other people.

I wanted to do some ladder work that the son was going to do before he left for camp a few weeks ago. It hit me I did not need to be on that ladder and if I had an accident that my son would regret forever that he did not do what he planned to do for me.

This way of thinking is new to me. We must to make sure our exit from life does not put others on a guilt trip. We need to live so the exit of others does not put us on a guilt trip.

Gale Hawkins · Aug 21, 2015

Good points.

The time I put into helping the younger folks are some of my best times today at age 64.

Now I am glad we took the time and money to homeschool the kids for example but I was 46 when they were born.

At church I find myself encouraging the 40ish age group to step out on faith more. When we are young the fear of failure can lead to failure. As I age I see how the risks I feared seldom even materialize and when they do they often are quite manageable.

Yes we are going to die sooner or later and should act as if it is going to be sooner than later when it comes to working with other people.

I wanted to do some ladder work that the son was going to do before he left for camp a few weeks ago. It hit me I did not need to be on that ladder and if I had an accident that my son would regret forever that he did not do what he planned to do for me.

This way of thinking is new to me. We must work to make sure our exit from life does not put others on a guilt trip. We need to live so the exit of others does not put us on a guilt trip.

Clay45 · Aug 21, 2015

Some of the best memories were when we all loaded up into a new car (or pickup, or jeep) and hit the road. I've been to the beach a cagillion times and those memories all run together but hopping into a new vehicle and going west for a few days or couple of weeks was awesome.

oldballs · Aug 21, 2015

Seems to me that some grandparents are great as long as they can keep up the entertainment, or take care of the ill-begotten grandkids. When that's not the case (entertainment) or re-parenting, the grandparents are forgotten.

For those that have the money to provide lake cottages, boats expensive vacations etc., you can buy those memories. But when the real old age and cancer sets in, where are they now?

But my wife (deceased) and I would not do it any different as we went about making the kids and grandkids as happy and secure as we could.

Cheers,
Mike

RSKY · Aug 21, 2015

A man MUST provide for his family. I worked nights. I worked every weekend except for holidays and vacations for three years. I worked so much that I was numb from fatigue when I was with my family. My wife turned down administrative jobs because she would not have the summers off with the girls. She turned them down even though it would have meant a large pay increase. I just worked more to make up for it.

That's what you have to do when you have a young family. I have never regretted the hard work, I do regret the time I missed with my girls.

My girls realize the sacrifices my wife and I made when they were young and they appreciate it now because they are doing the same things for their young children.

Now I get to play with the grands and spoil them and buy them things they don't need and answer two thousand questions and teach them how to do things that their parents are too busy making a living to teach them.

As you get older you realize your own mortality and you also realize what is really important in your life. We taught our girls to always hug their grandparents and to tell them that they love them because each time they do so it may be the last time.

I find it amusing that my grandchildren now do the same thing to me and my wife............ Now that's something to think about.

RSKY