Two Nights

 A couple of weeks ago Carol and I went to dinner with Craig and Amanda.

It was a magical night of good food, conversation, laughter and that special kind of love that flows between aging parents and their kids who have the world in front of them.

Last Saturday night Carol and I went to dinner with Keith and Krista. It was a magical night of good food, conversation, laughter and that special kind of love that flows between aging parents and their kids who have the world in front of them.

That's it. That's all we need, Carol and I. Especially now in this most horrific of years. A year that takes everything away from you.

We are living like hermits. Food shopping is a highlight. There is fear. I am angry and worried when I have to go to work. I fucking hate it. I don't trust the people around me and I crave the independence to say "Fuck you, I am staying home. I will not go anywhere I don't want to go".

And then there is dinner. With Keith and Krista. With Craig and Amanda. Truthfully it is impossible to express what that means to us, what it does for us.

As we are driving home we say "What a beautiful night. Good conversation and laughter in a comforting way".

Carol and I have never taken our relationship with our sons for granted. Never. From Day One to forty and thirty six (soon to be thirty seven) years old. Doesn't matter.

They make us smile. They make us proud. They make us happy.

I am proud of how comfortable we all are together. At this stage they could consider us assholes or we could consider them assholes. That is not the case.

The experiment worked. We gave them abundant love and as much guidance as we could. Threw some fun in for good measure. We gave them freedom to become who they are.

And now we reap the benefits. They give us pure joy. In 2020, when joy is in short supply.

Truthfully, it was never an experiment. Carol and I were the kind of parents we were destined to be. It came naturally because we love being parents.

Those two nights are beautiful memories. After last Saturday night we have talked about both nights with reverance and awe. And appreciation.

There will be more. They won't come around as easily as they used to, as naturally as they used to, but they will come around. Because it has to be so.

Keith and Craig are the most powerfully important humans in our life. They have brought Amanda and Krista into our life, to our great pleasure.

This family is extraordinary.