Caroline’s reminiscences about our children’s baptisms really threw me for a loop. It’s hard for me to look at all the pictures of our children when they were younger without tears coming to my eyes. The sweet pain of nostalgia makes me wonder whether I was a good enough father to my beautiful young children; am I a good enough father now? I have written about this before: for me, looking at old pictures creates a “twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone . . . it takes us to a place where we ache to go again.” – Don Draper
Where I am now with this is that I am grateful that I got to be there, that I got to see them, that I got to hold them. I am grateful that I still get to see my children. They are still beautiful, but it’s hard to see them as children now. They are really grown up. My son Eric is taller, bigger, smarter than I am. I can’t wait to see what he does when he decides what he wants to do.
My daughter Wiley is about to graduate from college early (EARLY!!???! Whose daughter is she?). She is going to be a novelist. She has known she will be a writer for as long as she has known there are books.
My other daughter Elise is the most mature high-schooler ever. She has a job, she volunteers, she goes to church, she’s taking AP classes, and she cooks dinner for her parents. She is more self-assured than anyone I know.
I am just glad I get to know them. And they are happy to have us around. Still, when I look at the old pictures, I miss their younger selves. I can’t help it.
Here is the part where I tie this into the business. I am on a mission to help people make sure their families are taken care of and free from conflict when something happens to them.
If you’re the parent of minor children, your most important planning task is to legally document guardians to care for your kids in the event of your death or incapacity. These are the people whom you trust to care for your children—and potentially raise them to adulthood—if something should happen to you.
Luckily, we have been able to have this conversation with my sister-in-law. Since my brother passed, if something happened to her, my niece and nephew would need a guardian, and without planning, that decision would be made by the court. Caroline and I would certainly step in. But my sister-in-law let us know that she would want her sister to raise the children – it is very important to her that they be raised bilingual and Catholic. We are thrilled that she let us know – we know we would still be a part of their lives. And knowing more about my sister-in-law’s priorities helps us have a deeper connection with her.
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