One of the strangest experiences I've had as a parent is seeing myself through the eyes of my parents. Sometimes, I'll look at my kids but I don't see them. I see me. And when I look at me, I see my parents.
It happens when I hear Big say something familiar or when I see Lil' do something sneaky. It happened this weekend when I saw Big throwing a cast net for the first time off the same dock and into the same water that I threw mine off of for the first time.
I was thinking, "Don't get too close to the edge. Put the weight in your front teeth. Errr, side teeth, since you have no front teeth. Reach way down the neck of the net, use your whole body, watch the edge, watch the edge, watch the edge!"
He was thinking, "Let me catch one. Please, just one, just one, just one. Let me show her I can do it."
The circle wasn't perfect for him but it was perfect for me. And as I watched him, I figured out that life really is very much the same way. You teach them what you know. You teach them what you were taught. It's not always perfect but they can still catch fish with it.
And he did catch one...
ReplyDelete