Kid's Grow Up

Kid’s Grow Up

It’s funny some of the things a person remembers. People have traumatic experiences and don’t remember them and others have traumatic experiences and can’t forget them. Inconsequential events for some reason take on a significance way beyond their meaning and torment us relentlessly.

A parent strives to make their children independent and it is only natural that kids want to be independent. But at the time they start to show some of that autonomy, it often strikes hard at parents. We see them shake the need for us and even though we are prepared to tolerate this aspect of our responsibility it is a shock when it happens.

I can still see the faces of my kids when they decided that it was no longer necessary for them to give me a kiss when they went off to school. We were living on Mulberry Street which was just a short distance from their school. They walked to school each morning and I would usually fix their breakfast and make sure they had all their stuff. Each one would give me a kiss and away they would go.

The kids were pretty close in age and in camaraderie and would get together and figure out things. I think they got together and decided that it was time for this kissing thing to go. One morning we did our routine and got to the door and I bent down to give them their kisses. Each one turned away from my face and that was it.

I was not prepared for that reaction but I did not let on. I just stood up and walked out the door with them and watched them go off down the sidewalk. The farewell kiss was suspended.

Like I said it is strange what our memory puts aside to torture us. This is one of the memories that decided to haunt me. It will roll through my subconscious from time to time without warning reminding me how fleeting can be the things we cherish.