Parenting in the here and now...

I would walk through a tunnel of fire if it would save my son. I would take my chances on a stripped battlefield with a sling and a rock à la David and Goliath if it would make a difference. But it won’t. I can roar all I want about the unfairness of this ridiculous disease, but the facts remain. What I can do is protect my son from as much pain as possible, and then finally do the hardest thing of all, a thing most parents will thankfully never have to do: I will love him to the end of his life, and then I will let him go. 

I read "Notes from a Dragon Mother" (an opinion piece in last weekends NY Times) about parents and a child with Tay-Sachs disease. Until this moment, I don't think I had even heard of this genetic disorder. But I have now. More importantly, I have heard the words of a woman who is far wiser and much stronger than I.

Although my children are grown and gone...grandson lives with us. He is well past the infant stage (he is 7) but some of the ideas she brings forth are applicable...

I will do all I can to encourage him in the world...provide swimming lessons and piano lessons and tap dancing and Cub Scouts...but not for what they can do for him in the future. Only for the pleasure and experience they can give him in the here and now. After witnessing her life in words, I don't think I will ever put the same emphasis on any extra curricular activity. I will follow her advice: "Parenting, I’ve come to understand, is about loving my child today. Now. In fact, for any parent, anywhere, that’s all there is."