In a couple hours, I am going to board a plane from St. Louis to Denver and go home. Thanksgiving is in a week and my birthday is in two. It will be nice to spend this time at home.
When I first arrived in St. Louis almost a month ago, I stayed at the house of Chris “PiMaster” Viox and his family – his wife Julie, their 5? year-old daughter Ellie, and their 18 month-old son Joe. After two nights there, we drove to New Albany, Indiana, where I roomed with Chris at the Holiday Inn.
One day we took a trip to visit Chris’s parents in Kentucky for dinner and Monday Night Football. Chris’s parents are younger than mine. They have grandchildren. My parents are not going to have grandchildren for a while.
I carefully watched Chris and Julie take care of the kids. Taking care of kids is tough. Really tough. I can’t believe people do it. The thing about little kids is they are very, very ANNOYING. They make annoying noises. They have to be taken care of. 24/7. That’s the thing about kids, is they don’t go away, they’re never not kids, and someone always has to take care of them. I like hanging out with kids, I like watching them play and learn and get bigger, I absolutely love watching them look at something and think about it and then suddenly figure it out. But there’s all those diapers and that food flung all over the place and the crying and most of all, the 24/7 attention drain for years and years.
I thank my parents for getting the job done. It was a nice job, too. I hope I can give them some grandchildren, though it probably won’t be for at least five years. I also thank my future wife for taking care of our kids, because she is likely going to do the majority of the work.
After Indiana, Joel, Jason, and I stayed at Chris’s brother Matt’s house. When we first got there, Chris and Matt’s grandmother and mother were both staying there. There was a moment one evening where I saw the grandmother (who I was informed is in fact a Schweiss, not a Viox, so the title of this post is actually inaccurate) playing a memory card game with Ellie. The concept of great grandparents and great grandchildren is almost mythical to me. It was nice to see they really do exist.
Matt’s house was a blast. We got in a really nice routine of waking up late, finding some exercise late in the afternoon, eating dinner and playing poker or going out at night. There were no girlfriends, wives, or kids. None of us have any. It was nice, but it can’t go on forever like that. I wouldn’t want it to, and neither would my parents or my potential children.
3 Comments:
Tom,
You're young and I understand what you are saying...I was there once also. But I can tell you that there is nothing more fulfilling in life than seeing your child learn to love, trust, and begin to understand things about life that you've instilled in them.
I feel sorry for those that go through life without ever being a parent. The return parenthood gives is sometimes hard to put into words...there's not much else like it in life.
Good luck at the tables...
Chris
Moon,
When you have kids one day you will look back at this post and see how much you have changed. Your post is very similar to something I felt at your age and life stage. Most people in their 20s go through it. I know I did, and I still have periods where I fight that "selfish" urge to just do whatever I want whenever I want however I want it. While this is maybe the easiest way to live life, it is so far from the most gratifying and self-fulfilling. Just holding your kid before bed, or the smile you see from them when you get home from a long trip (or even just an errand), is worth more than just about anything. Raising a kid is difficult....very difficult. It isn't fun at times, but for all the work it takes, there is nothing more important or inspiring as seeing your kids grow up and knowing you are shaping them into the people they will become.
I agree with Tom. The thought of little Moons running around scares the crap out of me.
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