The Dad Cycle — End of the Day for February 10, 2014

Life is cyclical. Heck, the entire state of being is cyclical, if you look at it closely enough. “To everything there is a season, Turn, Turn Turn.” Sure, we can all ignore these cycles sometimes, but that doesn’t stop them from occurring. It just causes a dissonance between what we want to happen and what is really happening. We can all be in denial sometimes, but then life clues us in again to what it is all about.

It has been almost 16 years now since I first took on a big role in raising our son. Rosanne was working full time in the high-powered (and high-paying) world of network television, and I was not that thrilled with my full time job, so I returned home, took on a big role as “Dad” and slipped in some computer consulting when I could. It was a surprise at first, but I really enjoyed it. We would spend out days in and out and I really got to know my son so well. To this day, I credit those first 3 years for our relationship that is pretty stable, considering that he is now a teenager.

This is, in fact, what got me thinking about cycles again today. Over the last year, as I transition from one career to another, I have been spending more time in my “Dad” mode again. Rosanne’s schedule sometimes makes it better for her to spend the night with her mother near the campus where she teaches in the morning and so it is just Joe and I again, at least for short periods of time. Once again, I was reminded how much I like this. We get along pretty well and share some interests, so that helps a lot. We can watch YouTube together, listen to some of the same music and just enjoy each other’s company.  What could be cooler than that? Sure, we can “chew” on each other on occasion, especially on those occasions when I am forced to be “Dad” over some, usually small, issue, but overall it has been a pretty nice ride, and I expect to get even better as the years pass.

So, once again the cycle catches up with me and we start another turn around the clock. Who knows what other cycles life might bring, but I’ll always be watching for them.

Previously on End of the Day:

• Stillness, silence and sand — End of the Day for February 9, 2014
• Parental Robots? – End of the Day for February 8, 2014
• Topics of (dis)interest – End of the Day for February 7, 2014
• Home again — End of the Day for February 6, 2014
• …but Mom, he followed me home! — End of the Day for February 5, 2014
• All parenting is ad lib – End of the Day for February 4, 2014
• A little bit of this and a little bit of nothing – End of the Day for February 3, 2014
• Was that rain on the roof? – End of the Day for February 2, 2014
• Growing up – End of the Day for February 1, 2014
• End of the Day for January 2014