Some thoughts on family folk I have met.

.
.
I have known, and prefer to befriend, married folk. Why I cannot say. Perhaps that is a hope, or has been one. I know I like the simple way they live and work. Oh, they present well, but I see well into the insanity of those lives. Little irritations, day in and day out. The kid that always loses his... (fill in the blank, that was me as a kid, by the way); the kid that talks back (they all take turns), the spouse that wants everything and seems to give so little (can be either, depending on perspective/moment); and on the list goes. What they often do not see is that their time is so filled that instead of living a hollow, hard working, drab, plain life, their lives are filled with other people. They have neither the time nor the allowance to be too into themselves. Yes, I may be blind on many things, but not on this. Is that grass greener? No, it is merely different. I would not, as a proverbial cow, wish to munch that grass by accident. Only by design and with some serious forethought would I end up in that pasture. Still, I think it is the one I wanted. Then again I never wanted to fight, war really. I just wanted to read, write, tinker with math, and know peace. We do not get what we want, perhaps not even what we were designed to be. Not all of us. I suppose I have hope in God's design. I hope that what I am is of some use, some joy, some comfort, to Him.

Couples seem so... simple at times. Especially those with children. Some of it is created so as to envelop the children in a safe, sane, quiet place in which to begin learning. Mothers seem to lead the charge, becoming nearly childlike at times, to be at the level of their children. Though, never mistake a woman's seeming childishness with the real thing. A good mother is one of the most mature beings out there, and does not miss a trick or a tick. I cannot help, when I see this nature, to think about what the bible says about becoming as children before entering the kingdom of heaven. Is this it or close to it? As well, I think spouses who decide to have children (odd, decide to do what is absolutely natural and what their whole lives have driven them to do?) have to, somewhere in the occurrence, develop a faith that they will be able to do something they have never done before in the face of economic, political, and many other obstacles. They are hopeful prone, yet practical enough to deal with what else comes. I have to believe, though, that the facing of that is quite thin. Without the family as a unit, the thing would not work. It seems both the sum AND the parts are somehow greater than each other. Put that in your calculator and smoke it.

I suppose this could be a piece dedicated to the (dying) family. It is not really dying, it is just dying in secularizing parts of the world. And yet, I hope that it is not an idealizing of the notion of familyhood. Idealism fails, only hard work, sacrifice, and faith can create real goods, like families. But all praise should be given to those who have chosen to not be selfish. And, no, having three or more children is not selfish or thoughtless, not in these times. Well, among certain groups anyway. Still chomping at a bit which will probably never find me anywhere near the pasture of familyhood, but so it goes.