New Beginnings

Normally, I hate being wakened in the middle of the night with a text message.  This morning was the exception to that particular rule.  My middle daughter Merry was off to the hospital to prepare for the birth of her second child.  As I shared the news with the Divine Mrs. M and  slid back into a restless sleep, it occurred to me we have well and truly moved into the role of caretakers of the family's collective wisdom.   The younger generation will deal with sleepless nights and the rigors of raising children.  Nana and I will be the backstop and example for them.  We did it, and so can they.  We came from a generation which pioneered the concept of both parents working and juggling careers with parental duties.  Our parents were exemplars of the patriarchal society which reached its apex in the 1950s.  The father was the breadwinner and the mother the nurturer.  We gradually weaned ourselves away from that model, although Mrs. M still did more than half of the duty involved.  The next gen will be a more equal partnership and I wish them well.  Meanwhile, we await the arrival of the new addition and hope the parents can agree on a name at some point.....