Beer Buddies

Today is my son's 38th birthday. I can't remember a time when we didn't enjoy our children. Even when we were about to pull our hair out with their antics we always found something to laugh about. Raising kids is a lot like zip-lining; part totally terrifying and part unbelievably exhilarating. I wouldn't have missed the ride for the world.

If children were fun, having adult children is even better. Not only do you meet on the common ground of adulthood but you also have a shared background and memories. Sometimes the memories are a little skewed depending on who is remembering. I recall one Christmas when we were all sitting around relaxing (it must have been before grandkids) and the kids got to telling stories about their teen years. The stories got bigger and better and suddenly I realized that all the time I thought I had been wisely guiding them through the dangers of growing up they had been dealing with pitfalls and adventures that I hadn't even known about! Just shows your children can always surprise you.

Sometimes it's the other way around. Several years ago my son was dealing with some of life's adversities in a mid-western state. Due to his job and my chemo treatments we weren't able to visit one another much during this period (thank goodness for phones). As soon as I could, I flew out to spend some time with him. It had been a typical trip with layovers in airports, late arrivals and little rest or food. After a 45 minute drive from the airport we finally arrived at his house about 11:30 pm. My son deposited my luggage then stood looking into the refrigerator at his meager collection of ketchup bottles and beer. "Umm...could I get you something?" he inquired with hesitation. I laughed and said "I would kill for a beer". With a grin he snagged two and we started talking. Three hours later he looked at me with amazement and said, "I would never have believed that I could be sitting here at 1:30 in the morning having a great time and drinking beer with my mother!!"

See, all the trials and tribulations of raising children are worth it. You finally get to have fun with them!!