Cat's in the Cradle

I was just driving home after dropping the boys off at a friend's house a few minutes ago. 

I had the radio on and the song "Cat's in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin came on. 

As I listened the song made me feel sad as it always does. 

This sadness is for a couple of reasons. The story of the song is a father who was too busy with things in his life that he didn't take the time to spend with his son as he was growing up. 

Also, I always feel sad when I think how the world was robbed when Harry Chaplin died at only 38 years old. 

However, my sadness is NOT from feelings that I missed out on the cool things in my boys' lives. 

Sometimes the boys may tell you that Cheryl and I were there too much and right in the thick of things. 

I confess that there were a few occasions during my first term on Village Council that I had to miss a hockey or baseball game or needed to have Cheryl take Tyler to his weekly piano lesson because I had to be somewhere. 

When I decided not to reoffer in 2012, the main reason was that I would be available for everything that came up. 

And I was. 

When Braydon had a paper route for a couple of years, the two of us got up together bright and early and were ready when the papers arrived. 

His route was in another neighbourhood a fair distance away so we needed to drive to get there. 

We had that paper route down to an art. We both knew what houses got papers and where the they wanted them. 

There were many times that we were driving through huge piles of snow that the plows hadn't had a chance to get to yet. 

But we made sure that the papers got to the customers. 

Many times the papers were delayed in reaching us and it drove us nuts. 

Braydon took such pride in his commitment to that paper route. 

Of course this made me very proud of him as well. 

He and I still talk about the paper route days as quality time we spent together and miss them. 

Just as Tyler and I remember the days of driving to piano his lessons every week and having dinner together afterwards. 

These were some of the good times we've had so far. 

I think I can say with confidence that many years from now our sons are not going to say "I wish that my mother/father/parents had been there more for us". 

We have been and will always be there for them.