The thousands of possible lives that used to spread out in front of me have snapped shut into one, and all I get is what I've got. It's time to pass on the possibilities, all those deliciously half-open doors, to my children, and drive them to the airports, and wish them bon voyage.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on letting go of personal ambitions to empower the next generation.
Barbara Holland's quote speaks to the bittersweet experience of realizing that one's own opportunities have become limited, yet finding joy in passing on those unfulfilled possibilities to one's children. It emphasizes the importance of supporting the next generation in pursuing their own dreams, even as a parent must accept the closure of their own paths and celebrate the potential journeys of their offspring.
In practice
During a family gathering, I shared this quote to express my desire to support my children's dreams.
Subtly, in the little ways, joy has been leaking out of our lives. The small pleasures of the ordinary day seem almost contemptible, and glance off us lightly...Perhaps it's a good time to reconsider pleasure at its roots. Changing out of wet shoes and socks, for instance. Bathrobes. Yawning and stretching. Real tomatoes.
No matter your situation, you can make family history a part of your life right now. Primary children can draw a family tree. Youth can participate in proxy baptisms. They can also help the older generation work with computers. Parents can relate stories of their lives to their posterity. Worthy adult members can hold a temple recommend and perform temple ordinances for their own kin.
I conveniently forgot to remember that people only have two hands, or, as another parent once said of having a third child, it's time for a zone defense instead of man-to-man.
Freedom has never been free... I love my children and I love my wife with all my heart. And I would die, die gladly, if that would make a better life for them.
Fortunately for me, my grandfather gave us a life I could never dream of. He was my high school football coach, my best friend, my school teacher - really my dad.
How many a father have I seen, A sober man, among his boys, Whose youth was full of foolish noise.
My grandmom worked as a maid for most of her life, and she worked in the tobacco and the cotton fields, whatever she could get.
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