The Circle of Life

I believe I have used this title before, but it’s okay.  It applies to so many things in our lives.  We start off life being dependent on our parents for survival, sometimes we end our lives being dependent on our children.  We start our lives without teeth and eating soft foods and sometimes we end our lives in a similar state.  We start our lives in diapers and sometimes…well, need I say more.
On a more pleasant note though, Mini Me and the kids were over for dinner the other evening.  I was filling her in on the day we had and whether or not the kids napped and how much.  We discussed how unpleasant they can be when they have not had naps.  I know Mini Me will read this and will immediately be offended a little, but maybe that also explains a lot of things about adults.  Maybe we get a little nasty when we haven’t had our naps.  The trouble with this is that for most adults, our naps are few and far between.

At any rate, Mini Me mentioned that she was extremely tired that particular evening, and would I please send her for a nap.  This led to discussions about how I used to trick the kids into their naps.  With Calvin, I would tell him to lay down and close his eyes for just five minutes.  I promised I would time him.  Often times, two hours later he would holler for me and ask if his five minutes were up.  Thank God he couldn’t tell time yet!  The Blonde would simply get up from lunch, grab her blanket and go to sleep in her bed.  Weird.  Pook and the Surprise hated naps.  They thought they were being punished and/or they were missing some secret fun activity that we waited to do once they were asleep.  Now that thought is not completely off, because when the kids were little, Doc and I would prepare and enjoy an elegant dinner and a bottle of wine on Christmas Eve after we put the kids to bed. Maybe not their idea of a secret fun activity, but it certainly filled our bill.

In reality, small children hate naps.  They are sure they are missing the greatest moments of their lives.  Then they move on to school age and naps are not required – life is good.  Of course, when they become teenagers, you can’t get them out of bed in the morning and they would kill to have you send them to their rooms for a nap rather than help with chores.  As young adults, life is full and exciting.  Naps are only required following a night of partying.  When they become parents, they want their young children to nap.  On a rare occasion, mom will also sneak one in but as I said, it is a rare occasion.  And as we come full circle, as middle aged parents and older, we love the quiet that we can get on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, to sit on the couch in front of a fire, watch football or a favorite movie and nap!  Isn’t life wonderful!?

Have a blessed and restful day!

P.S.  Happy 30th Birthday Calvin!!!