Maegan and Brendan

The first time I met them, I was told to sit down, and one was placed in the crook of each arm. They were swaddled and looked exhausted from the traumatic experience they just went through. I couldn’t see them as clearly as I would have liked, I’m going to say it was due to the angle, but more than likely it was the tears of joy and happiness.

Many years have passed, some marked with tears but far more with laughter. I’ve watched them grow through thirty five years of life. The first part I had some impact on, but mostly I have been an observer. They seem to have risen above any bad advice I gave them throughout the years and somehow taken the little that is good from me and adapted it to their own lives.

I was walking past the high school they went to with Buster this morning and I couldn’t help but see their faces on the kids laughing and in deep discussions with their buddies. I wish that I could have been a fly on the wall watching them making friends and mistakes, there was so much that I missed. Parents only know a fraction of what is going on inside of those young minds. I suppose that’s because we have forgotten how hard it is to find a place to fit in the world.

Now that they are adults, I know even less because they are far too busy shaping their worlds and putting a mark on our planet. I think it is a better place for their being here, but I am more than a little biased. As a parent the only real criteria that matters is that they be happy, and from my vantage point on the outside looking in, I believe that they are.

When Buster and I were walking this morning, we were thinking how you never really grow up in your parents eyes. My mom continued to call me Kenny forty years past the time I changed it to Ken. When I went “home” I fell into the comfortable role that I grew up in with mom looking after me and me loving every minute of it. I don’t think there was much I could do to stop it even if I had wanted to; we are hard wired that way. I like when the kids come “home” and I get the opportunity to do for them once again. I don’t always find out how life is treating them, but sometimes just being close is good enough.

Maegan and Brendan came into the world a minute apart and in that minute my life grew so much larger than I imagined it could ever get. Because of them I made life long friends, learned skills that give me joy and feel that I have made a valuable contribution to our world.

I am so very proud of them and wish them health, happiness and peace.