There was a long time while I lived in the house I'm in now when it was big and empty. I lived on my own, rattling around the house just kept company by my dog. The house was a house, not yet a home; just a place to lay my head when I wasn't working and far more than I ever needed.
At times those moments alone seemed to go on forever.
Now it is filled with the sound of children playing and animals, plus my beautiful wife and I of course. My wife has done the most amazing job of making a home that the house always yearned to become. It's been an incredible transformation which has taken a long time and a whole lot of money.
But as I hear our children playing I wonder if any of this even registers with them. If they understand or realise how lucky they are, after all many of their friends aren't so fortunate. I wonder if they will look back on their childhood with affection, reminiscing on such happy times, acknowledging how fortunate they were to have two solid parents who love them more than life itself.
We tell our children countless times per day that we love them. We tell them how proud we are of them, how happy they make us and how special they are. We heap praise when praise is due and reward them probably more than we should. But we do this because they give us such love and joy in return.
But I think there is another reason; it's because we are realising something that was missing from our own childhoods. My wife was overlooked in favour of her brother and both my sister and I farmed off to boarding school as young children.
I don't understand much of our childhood and I don't think I ever will. Children are only children for a fleeting moment but memories last forever. You don't need money to make memories, you need love and effort. Why you would want your children to grow up quickly or just not to be with them throughout is beyond me. You're a long time old and responsibility comes far too soon.
I'm in no hurry.
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