Random Thoughts
When I was a child, my father had partial-season tickets to Chicago White Sox games. We’d go on some weekends. Great memories. Driving down I-94 and spotting Comiskey Park, and going early to get autographs. I can still name the lineups for those teams. So, I was saddened to wake up this morning and learn that Wilbur Wood died. He was one of the best pitchers on those teams. He was 84, so it isn’t a surprise, just still sad. Time passes.
On that, I mentioned before, my wife is turning our oldest son’s room into a guest room. I was talking to someone who put what I was feeling into better words than I did. When I walk into the room, I don’t see the furniture, paint scheme, or artwork. I see my son as a toddler, a young child, and a teenager. I see the younger son wrestling with him, both of them giggling like mad. I see myself reading him a bedtime story. That’s why I was so against it. I miss those days and THAT kid terribly. I love the man who has replaced the child, but I feel a loss of the child. OTOH, he probably sees something similar, but wants to look forward. He may not want to walk into a room where he feels like a child and not a grown man. I get it.
The other day I saw an ad for the Hatch 3. It’s an alarm clock with a built-in sound machine and a “sunrise alarm clock” that wakes you up with light. It looked cool until I saw that, if you want the full library of features, you need a subscription. I HATE subscription models for anything other than streaming services and magazines. If i buy you product, I want the product. I don’t want to rent it or pay more to use what I purchased. I detest Microsoft these days. In older (read: better) times, you bought Word or the suite. Now, you pay monthly. Just sell it to me. I don’t like paying for a monthly subscription, so my car dashboard works only partially (I don’t pay and thus don’t have “full” access). I get why businesses like it, but it’s an instant turn-off to me.
Last, my daughter is heading back to college today. Back to the empty nest. I’m okay with that. The kids are all sorting themselves out and doing well. Like my son’s childhood bedroom, time to start seeing them as adults. Still, I hurt when I see pictures of them as kids. I wish I could play with them just one more time. Hug them. Wrestle like we used to. Color at the dinner table. Anything. Best I can do is keep building good memories with them now (and maybe hope for grandkids….I TOTALLY get grandparents now…reliving toddlers but without the big hassles 🙂 )