I was young once.
I had a professor in college who looked out at the collection of kids on the edge of adulthood.
You will never again have as much disposable income as you have right now.
The class was at Brigham Young University. The university is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Most of us would get married. And by the standards of most people, we would marry young. I was 23 and my lovely wife was 19 when we got married.
And marrying young, we would also start families young. And once you have kids you are no longer young. Regardless of how old you are.
As it says in my signature block, I have thirteen children. Through adoption, I ended up with kids much closer together in age than would occur naturally. Now that they’ve almost all grown up, they are also leaving the house quickly.
My lovely wife explained that we have two main focuses when it comes to families.
1. Take care of your family
2. Raise your children
If you think about it, those are both the same goal. As parents, we focus on our children. We teach them. We clothe them. We feed them. We worry over them. And ultimately we hope they will make their own way in the world.
Some of my children have. My oldest have married. Some have children. They have careers. They truly are a joy to me as a father.
Some are still too young to make their way. The youngest three are still in high school. Still a couple of years to go.
And we were well on our way to helping our other kids transition out of the house. We were looking forward to a time when we would be less focused on our children, and have time to focus on our deferred goals. The things we wanted to do when we were young.
My dear mother, after she retired, devoted herself to travel. She’s been all over the world on cruises and excursions. Doing the things she couldn’t do when she had kids at home. When she was old. All of my brothers and my sister have been gone from home for many years.
But, today’s world is unlike the world when I left home years ago. I have my high school age son at home, but I also have his older brothers, and older sisters. Some are back from college, but some never left.
As we look at the world we have today, I can’t help but wonder what the coming years hold for us. Will the world allow our children to strike out on their own like my siblings and I did. Like my lovely wife did. Like my older children did. Or, will parental duties be ongoing? Will the “new normal” change what it means to be adults?
Most importantly, will we ever young again?
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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