Thursday, June 5, 2014

Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts

That's how I'd describe my kids.

My son, for instance, seems to have an unlimited capacity for patience. This is a good trait for the parent of an almost four year old. (Both my kids probably could have used more patience from me but I'm going with the 'no harm, no foul' defense.) He's turned out to be a great parent, as well as an amazing photographer, so apparently I didn't screw him up too badly. He also had the good sense to choose a great woman to have in his life, another thing I can't take any credit for, but benefit from.

My daughter graduated from college a couple of weekends ago. Her course load was heavy in math, and since her dad and I can barely add two plus two without resorting to a calculator, we are in awe of her brainiac self. Phi beta kappa, graduation with distinction, yada yada yada. Are your eyes rolling? Yes, I've become one of Those Parents, bragging about my kids to anyone who can't run away from me—sales clerks, phlebotomists, people duct taped to a chair.

But here's the thing with my kids: their genes seem to have been amplified by the square root of the distance to the sun and morphed them into a couple of humans who are light years beyond anything I could have imagined for myself. I claim no credit. It's like winning the kid lottery just because I bought a ticket. I have serious doubts that anything I did contributed much, because at times I felt like I didn't have all that much to contribute. I got lucky on this one, and for that I am greatly relieved and eternally grateful.