Never Too Late

“Never too late” is what many of you told me about the last editorial. Indeed it isn’t. It’s never too late to teach your children, nor to learn from them, nor to be a kid again.

Got some fabulous responses from you, including Mark Onuffer who said,

“I think the biggest thing my children have taught me is that you can have children today with their morals, thoughts, and direction in the right place. They have developed into an upstanding young man and woman, by making the right choices, using their minds and their common sense. I am very proud of them.”

Good to hear. If you watch much VHI, you’ll find that Mark’s first comment is a well-grounded concern!

Offering encouragement to those with children about to leave the nest, Deborah Strafuss said,

“Communication happens across many miles, without words. Stay connected, stay open, be accepting, always be who you are – they will always come back to connect and check in.”

Great advice. And with any luck, they’ll remember where to send the checks.

Yet, in a response mostly likely to cause a grown man to well a tear, came this…

As I leafed through dozens of kind responses, I came across this one. Stopped me cold, which turned into warmth. You’ll see.

“I learned from my son it is okay to be different. When he was 3 months old, he had a brain tumor removed that was about the size of an orange.

I was still in the Navy and the doctors said Ernie would never be this, and would never be that. They said he’d ‘always be dependent on someone else, that he’d always need someone to take care of him.’

He had it tough. Other kids picked on him. And all those things a father wants to teach their sons… to throw a ball, shoot some hoops and pass along what my father did for me, such as working with my hands. I could not do those things.

Yet I will say, the doctors were wrong on a couple points.

He is now 36 with children, working on his 2nd or 3rd Masters and working full time. He can look at a column of numbers and add them in his head faster than I can on a calculator. He may not walk or see well, but he has a good life and is happy.

He lives away now. He is independent. We talk often, but it is never enough. I first heard the song “Cats in the Cradle” bringing Ernie home from the hospital.

What a blessing it has been to have this gentle soul in our lives.

As fathers never really let go; but we must. I feel your pain and pride Adams; every day.”

Thank you, Dean Soliday for sending that message to all of us. I feel I’ve already unwrapped my present.

And lastly, it sounds like Kurt Wessling’s daughter may have the key to life when he wrote...

”My nine year old daughter is teaching me to relax. Not everything is so important. We we will get through the ‘stress’ in our life. Her advice to me is good: ‘Smile every day!"

When I think of children and Christmas, it brings a smile. For some, that smile changes from one based on the giddiness of an old man with a fantastic story named Santa, to the godliness of a young baby with an even more fantastic story named Jesus. Gifts from both, no matter your belief.

And part of our gift to you is to ask you to give something away, today. Give thanks to someone who’s not expecting it. Give encouragement to someone who needs it. Give time to listen to someone who feels they’ve run out of listeners.

Wherever you are, its’ never too late. Merry Christmas.