FOR SOME PEOPLE CHILDREN ARE A LOAD; FOR OTHER PERSONS CHILDREN ARE A PRESENT
Already in bed, Bob, 2 and a half years old, was really not all that ready for sleep.
He took out his «Snoopy» dog doll and began banging against the wall of his bedroom.
His father came into the room to investigate, but Bob was laying down, his eyes shut, pretending to be asleep.
Not long after leaving the boy in peace, the scene repeats itself: young Bob banging on the wall, which brings about a return visit of his father, who again finds him «sleeping».
As children do not tire of such games, it occurs yet a third time, which provokes the following dialog:
Father: –Son, you must think I am stupid.
Son: –I know you are, Daddy.
Father, (with exasperation): –Sometimes I wonder where you came from!
Son: –God gave me to you, Daddy!
[What can you say! I asked the mother about her son, Bob, now just graduating from college, if it is still quite easy to recall that God gave him to you as parents, and she immediately replied: –even more so now!]
Kathy Bailey, as told to Fr. Marty; Pittsburgh, PA. 2002
