Great Expectations

Being a parent gives us the license to instill all of our hopes for our children’s future. It’s a fun game to play; I know I find myself doing it all the time. After a little stargazing I always find myself coming back to reality and reminding myself that whatever aspirations I have for PJ, I’m lucky if 33% of them come true. I mean really, as parents we want our children to experience only the good stuff in life-that will never happen. I don’t know how many parents can ground themselves with reality to the point that they are prepared for their child to flunk out of college, or not go at all, or to get pregnant at 18, or become a pothead, or worse yet…a Conservative Republican.

I’m learning to keep my expectations sensible…well, to a degree that is. What’s more important to me is raising a person that embodies what I see as a decent human being. A person who is willing to help someone within reason, personable to any and all people, a person who has several sides to their personality (wit, intelligence, frivolity, compassion, inquisitiveness, and humor). Those are the traits that I look for in people and hope my children will embody as well. I’m not concerned with whether she goes to law school, or becomes a doctor, or competes in sports at a professional level, or anything like that.

However, with all that said, I do have a petty personal wish list for my children…

1-Sisterly love (kindness to each other, friendship) – I see too many brothers and sisters that do not seem to have much of a relationship with each other (me included), I want to have children that are more friends as well as siblings
2-Intelligent
3-Humble
4-Avid, knowledgeable sports fans (baseball)
5-Musicians (guitar preferably although I am saving my 1968 Vox short-scale bass for one of my kids to play), not only musicians but also a passion for music theory (structure, harmony, rhythm, melody, etc…)
6-Avid, knowledgeable music fans
7-Less materialism, more humanism
8-An interest in history
9-Disdain for the Dodgers
10-Purveyor of the enjoyment of life