Presents or Presence

Yesterday, I sat in the waiting room at the auto mechanic awaiting an oil and headlamp change on my vehicle.  While there, another waiting customer struck up a conversation with me.  She shared that she retired from teaching elementary school 10 years ago.  Since then she has tutored students.  When tutoring students in writing, she often prompts them to tell her a story about something they have done with their parents.  The kids never have a story to tell.  They always share a time that their parents bought them something.  So she asks about their grandparents.  They may have gone to the zoo with their grandparents but the story always ends with what the grandparents bought for them.
She then tells them about making biscuits with her grandmother and cutting the dough with jelly jars. This fascinates the kids, but they always want to know what her grandmother bought for her afterwords.

While she recounted all of this, I was pondering what my children would say if asked to share a story about something they have done with us.  I have often responded to the "why can't I have _______?" with "I spend money on experiences rather than things." I hope we have established good memories with our kids. Mostly I felt really sad for kids in general as I listened to this lady recount her experiences.


The news reminds us daily that we need to be present with Christ and the ones we love.  I need to work on this, but I am feeling more determined to take a trip for just the six of us.  We have never done that.  Maybe it's time. I could work more on being present at home, but teenagers disengage easily at home.  We may just have to get away.