My good friend Marc had his little girl, his first child, blessed today. I was lucky to be there. As he, and I, and others stood to bear our testimonies afterward, it occurred to me just what an interesting ride parenthood is.
I mean, it's like the ultimate in shared human experiences. Almost everyone at some point in their lives will experience it. Many who don't experience it biologically will still be able to do it socially. It truly is one thing that almost everyone does.
But for all of it's common ground, shared experiences, and universality, it's still unique with every child and every parent. I interact differently with Brendon than I do with Jake. I know that I interact differently with their friends who come over to play, because they are someone else's child. Even though I do make them follow the rules of our house while they're here, and I'm the responsible adult while I'm here, I'm still not their dad.
If fate had touched someone else with the task of being the parent to Brendon or Jacob, their shared experience would be vastly different (possibly even better) than what we've shared.
I don't really know where I'm going with this, other than that I find it interesting that God has set up our lives in such a way that we can be so unique. We all do it, but we all do it our own way.
MRKH
Mark Hansen
http://markhansenmusic.com
So true. I've been surprised by how different my kids are and how I parent them differently. I guess that shouldn't have been a surprise to me... my siblings and I are all different, too.
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