Own the moment

By Dan Barber

If you don’t want to get wet, don’t give your very young grandsons loaded water guns and then tell them not to squirt you with them! Because if you get wet, you can’t get mad when it’s your own fault… you own the moment.

Besides, how can you punish a toddler who is laughing so hard he can’t move? When dealing with children, you have to be prepared to accept whatever fate they decide for you.

If you have a loving family the meaning for your life has already been chiseled into your headstone… here lays a (fill in the blank). Years ago I attended a mandatory Navy training session at my work designed to make us better people. One of the things we were told was, “when people die they probably don’t wish they could have spent more time at work, they probably wish to have spent more time with family. 

What a concept, we spend so much time working to provide our loved ones with the things we think they need, we sometimes forget to provide the things to them they really need… us.

I spent 20 years on active duty in the Navy and I thought that I was giving my children a great adventure with all of the exotic places where they were able to live and visit. Not long ago I asked my adult daughter what she remembered about growing up as a Navy brat, she replied, “I remember you were always gone.” That shocked me, but it made absolute sense… When a toddler is put in time out for 2-minutes it can seem like a long time for them… but it is only 2-minutes. When a parent is away from their children serving their country for just a few months… to the child that can seem like forever!

I have noticed recently that our elected leaders have been hinting about cutting the defense department benefits budget so the Pentagon can buy better weapons systems and provide better combat training for the troops… that is all great except, if benefit programs for the troops and families are cut there will no longer be any volunteer troops entering the military to operate the new weapons systems or to train in the latest combat operations. Then when our nation is threatened and no one shows up to defend her, our children will be subject to the newly instituted draft!

One of the reasons I served in the military was so my children and grandchildren wouldn’t have to if they didn’t want to.

April is the Month of the Military Child… Honor those children by telling your elected leaders to pay the bill owed to them, own the moment!