The Gifts We Give

The gifts we give our children are not always easily measured. One gift I received from my mom was learning not to smoke. I saw what a disgusting habit and health risk it was for my mom and decided early on it wasn't for me. Thanks Mom. You probably saved me so much money and so many health problems.

A gift I recently got from one of my daughters came in a conversation when she said to me, "Remember when we used to do this...?" I remembered, but more importantly, so did she. My own childhood was frought with pain and heartache; so that most of my childhood is still a vague memory for me. There weren't many pleasant memories to begin with. Too many bad ones. I don't even have a single memory of my mother and father being in the same room together. How sad is that?

So the fact that I gave my daughters pleasant memories is my gift to them. Now they give them back to me when they say, "Do you remember when...?" Thank you for the gifts.