There are things they (you know who "they" are) don't tell you when you become a parent. I don't know how they would actually. I've heard people say they wished there was instruction manual on parenting.

If there were, there would need to be a different manual on every child, and probably a different manual for every stage of every child. Being a parent is hard. How do you know what to do at each moment of your child's life? I've pretty much resigned myself to the idea that no matter what I do, my children are probably going to need therapy when they get older. That's actually a very freeing concept.

I've been thinking more of the quote from Rilke I put earlier in the blog, like much earlier since I tend not to write as often as some people would like. For the quote, see the link to the side.

The questions in my heart are so many. What do I do when Jacob is so annoying and needy and my nerves are just about shot? What do I do when I've had one of the worst days in the history of the world and Caitlin decides it would be a good night to stay up and want to play? What do I do with my children?

I could be worrying about the economy, North Korea's nuclear threat, Iran's crazy dictator, America's crazy dictators, or how to convince people that global warming really is a myth. The fact is, I have enough in my home to think about.

AA has a saying, "Do the next right thing."

That pretty sums it up. I don't know what the right thing to do is tomorrow; I haven't really even dealt with this afternoon's. But I need to do the next right thing with what's in front of me. That makes life easier to deal with, because if I do the next right thing, I don't have to deal with life. Only the next right thing.

Aren't they beautiful?

And funny?

Isn't that life?