something I am grateful for today

[johncomic]

Last night our kids did a fistbump to celebrate “what a great team they are”. (Probably the gesture itself was intended as irony or postmodernism -- they don't usually fistbump -- but the sentiment behind it was not.)

It occurred to me that, their whole lives (18+ years as a team), our kids have rarely argued. They've pretty much never fought. They've certainly never tormented each other [unlike some brothers I could name]. Not saying they've never had differences of opinion or lively discussions, or thrown a brief epithet at each other once in a blue moon, but it almost never devolves into true squabbling.

On the other hand, I've often seen them display spontaneous gestures of affection. And, while they give each other a lot of space -- space is a big thing in my family -- they voluntarily spend a fair bit of time together and seem to enjoy it when they do.


We done good.

Comments

[susandennis]

That is indeed something to be grateful for and I love that you do. My parents wanted this more than anything and tried so hard for years and never ever even came close. I do not remember a time when my brother and sister and I ever got along at the same time. When my parents died, we were fairly estranged from each other. It's really ok with us but my parents wanted to have what you have - instead they got us!

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

My doddering memory tells me that we didn't work that hard at it: when they were very young and started to fly off the handle, we more or less reminded them that we all love each other and we treat each other nice. Just a small nudge in the right direction.

I suppose it's simply our good fortune that we were blessed with kids “where that's all it took”.