2 vs 13

No, sports fans, this won't be a bit about NCAA brackets and Louisville or some other #2 seed choking against West Idaho Tech A& M who got on a run at the end of the season, rolled through the conference tourney and somehow managed to earn #13 seed over a 18-12 Illinois.

We're talking kids here. Specifically, raising two girls...a 2 year-old and a 13 year-old.

Their needs are so different, yet so similar. The need for attention, the need for entertainment, the need to be heard.

That last one is NOT a problem for either.

Everything is loud or whiny or sarcastic or loud or whiny or sarcastic or loud or whiny or sarcastic or...

I remember my mother always saying how she was always tired after a particularly trying moment with us kids -- physically, mentally, emotionally tired.

Now I know why.

The only thing my wife and I want to do now is sleep. Pure, unadulterated, uninterrupted sleep. If you gave us money to spend on ourselves, we'd get a hotel room and sleep.



We'd like to think it'll end, and sure, once our 2 year-old gets older and more self-dependent, the fog of exhaustion may lift a bit. But it's not over.

It's never over. The worry and concern never ends.

I think that's the one thing they forget to tell you in parenting school. The worry never ends and it can sit on you like a 400-pound gorilla.

As parents, you long for those moments when you have time to yourself. The kids are at the grandparents and you can stretch your arms and not touch a child. It's a good feeling. But it never lasts.

The worry, however, is natural. I think, once you understand that, the worry becomes a little more bearable.

Laughter helps as well.

When you can nudge a laugh out of a 13 year-old girl (provided she takes off her iPod to hear you and looks away from the Instant Messenger screen to see you), it makes you less tired, less worried, if only briefly.

When my 2 year-old daughter runs down the hallway with a smile on her face, calling out, "Daddy, Daddy!" the fog is gone and there is no greater joy.

As a parent, you hold on to these things. You hold on to them because they don't last forever. Kids grow up, they leave home and you're left with memories and phone calls. And somewhere deep inside of you, you long for the days when your young kids were at home, wearing you out.

But we've got a ways to go, and it's time for bed...