Friday's Buzz

On being a parent...

This past Christmas I read a book called „ Finding Noel“ by Richard Paul Evans.  Besides being a great book, there are a couple of passages that really stuck out.  One of those passages I would like to share today!

„...and one day I had this epiphany.  I realized that being a parent was like being the Wizard of Oz.

„What do you mean?“

„You know the part when Dorothy and her friends go to see the Wizard?  This big, ominous head talks to them and they’re all terrified.  Then her dog...Toto pulls back the curtain and there’s a little man behind it pulling levers and throwing switches. And he says ... ‚Ignore the man behind the curtain.’ I think that being a parent is like being the man behind the curtain.  We pretend that we know what we’re doing—that we’re omnipotent and all-knowing—when the truth is we’re just back behind the curtain throwing levers and switches, doing the best we can.““

This really hit home with me because that is exactly how I sometimes felt:  throwing levers and switches and just doing the best I could with the strength and knowledge I had at the time.  Then what happens when the kids grow up?  As stated in the passage:  „And then our kids find out that we’re not as great as they thought we were?“  „Exactly.“

I guess that is just part of parenting and growing wise.  (smile…)