Cats in the Cradle

by Michele Boy | October 17, 2024

It’s a cool October morning. It’s weather I love! 
I read something that said you should never begin a story with the weather. Well where we live it is the basis for almost everything.
Temperature, climate, frost, wind, all determine how a farmer will approach the day. 
High winds or moisture affect a bus driver taking kids to activities, sports, or home to their parents. 
  It’s been a beautiful crazy week of weather. 
We went from 90 degrees, views of the Aurora Borealis,  to freeze warnings to a forecast of blowing dust, the possibility of rain, a full moon, and a comet. 
 The comet that last appeared 80,000 years ago. Did you get a picture of it? 
 A friend mentioned how cool it was that she was looking at the same thing a Neanderthal saw. 
 Perspective. I like that. It reminds us how connected we are to others. 
  My daughter has asked me for a week to come out and watch the comet with her. Every single day I am in a meeting or covering an event. 
 With her gone so much of the day it bothers me greatly that the one thing she asks for - my time, I haven’t been able to give her. 
 I truly hope tonight I can slow down long enough to go drive out into the country and just spend a little time looking at this marvel. 
 Time is so precious and valuable. What are you doing with yours? 
 Time, money, budgeting, meal planning. In this faster pace, organization and budgeting are more necessary than ever. 
But it won’t happen all at once. 
 So I may have to start with one.
Replacing old habits isn’t easy! 
But a little grace can go far. 
  One thing. What is one thing you can change today? 
I will start. Today is the anniversary of my father’s death. Eighteen years ago I heard his last breaths. I held his hand. 
For all the fighting and the pain we caused each other, I won’t ever forget the gratitude I have for being there. 
 The feelings still get me every year. 
I keep thinking I should do this. I should feel that. This shouldn’t bother me anymore.
 But it does. 
Am I functioning better than I have in the past? Yes. 
 Not everything in life is a win/loss record. Sometimes it is a whole lot of gray. 
I am stronger than yesterday. 
Whatever your challenges, wherever your weakness lies, it is very rare you will overcome it immediately. 
 Just like working out at the gym, you build a little at a time. It is the same for mental and emotional muscles. Keep working them. Keep growing. 
Don’t stop. 
 But all the shoulds in the world don’t help you grow. As a friend told me, give yourself a little grace. The world is tough enough without us beating ourselves up. 
Usually on this day I get incredibly angry or struggle functioning. But today I want to push past it. Not to fight the feelings, but allow them. 
 And to be able to be sad but grateful. 
I am stronger because of him. 
  So today, Wednesday, after the paper goes out, I will do something for me and my family. Instead of hiding and trying to just get through the day, I will work those emotional and mental muscles to get stronger, to be better than yesterday. 
  Time is a precious and valuable commodity. I hope we all can use it well. 
What is calling to you to push through? Who is asking you for more time?
 Can you carve that time or piece out? We get busier and busier. I keep thinking of that Harry Chapin song, “Cats in the Cradle.”
 “When you coming home dad. I don’t know when. But we’ll get together then.”
  I don’t want that to be our story. I want our family to find the time for each other. I guess that begins with me.