On being an unsentimental Father for a change

Longtime readers know that I can get pretty misty about when the kids were small and cute.  This actually annoys the kids who, while no longer small and cute*, have nicely grown to Honorable Manhood.  #1 Son is now 21, and enjoys walking to the local Irish pub with me.

We did that tonight, and talked about whiskey and beer, friends and growing up, geeky computer networking stuff (subnets and CIDRs and broadcasts, oh my!), and cabbages and kings.  It was entirely fun, and entirely unsentimental.  It reminded me of 30+ years ago, how I did this with Dad.

Maybe he'll remember this 30 years from now.  Hope so.

And I finally got to explain to him why I liked it so much when he and his brother were little: It was before you realized I was full of s**t.  He laughed.  I did too.

No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

Epictetus - Discourses Chap. xv.