Mother and Child Reunion

Yesterday afternoon I asked my son if the song he was singing softly to himself was "Mother and Child Reunion." I didn't think he'd know that song and, in fact, he didn't. He asked who did it; I told him it was Paul Simon and he pulled it up on his phone. It turns out the song he was singing was something by Kid Creole (which I was even more surprised he knew) that sounded very similar to the Paul Simon song.

One thing I love about my youngest son -- and there are many things I love about all of my sons -- is that we can sit in comfortable silence, working on our own things, just as easily as we can carry on philosophical discussions. I'm pretty sure I've never once heard him raise his voice. This is both good and bad. It is good to have self-control; however, some situations warrant expression of negative emotions, and I worry that he holds in his hurt, indignation, and frustration more than is healthy. It does make him a pleasant person to be around, though. I think I am that way too. Several years ago, my granddaughter told me I was "good at hiding [my] emotions." She knew that her three requests in ten minutes for me to take her to the bathroom were irritating, but rather than not noticing that I was doing my best not to express irritation with her, she seemed to notice more that maybe I should have been annoyed. I guess she wondered why I didn't snap or yell at her, but (and I feel this way about most situations) how would my snapping or yelling make anything better?

I know I'm fortunate to have children who want to spend time with me, and that we are all frequently in the position -- or we put ourselves in the position -- to be able to spend time together. It isn't always easy to make those reunions happen, but every time we do it's special. Really, I feel that way about every chance I have to spend with any of my kids, even on the phone. It just worked out that the youngest one is here this weekend; sometimes it's a different one, or I have them with me only by phone for months at a time. Oh, and the name of the Kid Creole song is "Darlin' (You Can Take Me)" in case you were wondering.