Passing the Torch

When I was young, and my sister and I would play, we would occasionally break something. No big surprises there! But whatever it was, whatever it was made out of, we would just say with confidence, "Daddy will fix it" and we'd trot down to the basement and leave the crippled object on his workbench. Poor Dad. Many evenings and weekends when he'd go down to the basement workshop to devote some time to the current wood-working project, he'd have to deal with our breakages first. But do you know the remarkable thing? He really could fix anything! I don't remember anything that didn't come back mended. Our confidence was well founded.

When I was at Dad's house yesterday, there was a magazine rack there that had failed to withstand the strain of all the things that had been inserted into it. The posts running between the base and the upper rim were all disconnected at one end or the other, and sometimes both. It just needs a little (or a lot) of wood glue, and it will be as good as ever. So at Dad's request I packed all the pieces up into a big black garbage bag and brought them home with me. The bag is presently sitting in our dining room, waiting for my husband to have time to rummage through his glue collection and get the rack put back together.

I have a funny feeling that a torch has been passed. Many years ago I'd wait for Daddy to come home, knowing that he could make things all better. Now I go driving over to my home town about every two weeks, and walk into that same house, but now I'm one of the people who make things all better. I'll send my husband over with the magazine rack and his computer knowledge in a couple of weeks, and it will be his turn. When did this happen? When did I become the person who can fix and mend and remove stains and intercede with doctors to make sure everybody gets their illnesses and needs properly addressed? I never saw it coming, and now it's too late to duck. As I drove along those back country roads yesterday, I was thinking with bemusement that I'm Mom--and I can do anything. Here's my torch, but where's my cape?

Love, Spud