You just never think it will happen to you. Then, one day you are caught. Transfixed. A deer in the headlights.  You stare in horror as comprehension (and a wrinkle) slowly dawns. You are aging.

If there is anything to be learned from growing older it is that we really
do remain young at heart in at least one area: arrogance. Growing older is what is going to happen to “other people.” We all secretly believe that it will never happen to us. I guarantee there isn’t an eighteen-year old on earth who can really feel in their heart that they will ever be over forty – or ninety.

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The other night I was being a lazy parent and I got punished for it.

I heard the kids jumping on their bed, something my husband and I have pleaded with them tirelessly not to do, and I also heard some good old-fashion rough-housing between boys. I was lying in bed watching the news, too exhausted from the day’s events to do anything more than say in an in-audible tone to please stop screwing around.

“Ah, well,” I thought, “Bed-time is fast approaching. Ten minutes of that and they should be good and tired.” No such luck.

Then I heard a howl and high pitched siren that I thought was coming from some cat being skinned alive outside. I finally realized it was my 6 year old but didn’t get off the bed right away. You see, he sometimes makes those sounds of torture when his older brother picks up a certain “off limits” stuffed animal or sticks his tongue out at him, so the drama I’m used to. But then I heard my 11 year old son, sounding scared and alarmed, “Dad, come quick, G is really hurt.”

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Am I the only one that misses Madison Ave. using honest-to-god jingles to pitch crap to children? They don’t make them like they used to: