When you kids were born, I became a totally different and better person. I know your mom feels the same is true for her. I could probably wax poetic on this in many different ways, but this picture captures a lot of how I feel.
Children don’t have cynicism – I think that shows up sometime in adolescence (and boy am I looking forward to that). Adults are cynical. It’s too easy for us to fixate on all the “problems” we have vs. enjoy what’s good in life. As a parent, it’s been my experience that your children often rekindle your own inner child and suppress that cynicism, if only for a fleeting moment – say, while playing in the backyard together…
H wanted to run through the sprinkler in the backyard, so we set it up, and he ran through the sprinkler. At one point, he was having so much fun, I decided I might as well join him.
It was fantastic.