A love letter inspired by my children…
April 30, 2025
“My hope is what I can't give you now was to give you what you need in the future.” - Unknown
My kids seem surprised that I work all year. Adulting is hard. It is such an honor to be able to serve my wife and my children with my ability to teach. With that comes the challenge of finding The Sweet Spot in working quality time with family and self-care. It's hard to get it right. It's hard not to let what you want your family to have supersede the need to appreciate what they already have. Some days I get it right. Some days I get it wrong.
My constant ask of my kids is for them to forgive me. If you are a parent
reading this, maybe you will get my struggle. I wanna give them more so they
can do more with less. I want my children to be able to see the benefits
of what we did for their children…and if they're so privileged, their
children's children. I want to create a legacy of spiritual, academic, and
financial wealth. If that can be created, then then maybe we got it right…and
even though there was some discomfort in the process, the hope is that one day
my children will see the reason why. The hope is that my impact was lined with
my intentions, and a little Grace is given by my children to me.
So if I get it all wrong, I hope that my intentions are close to my impact. I
hope that my children can see what I was trying to do. On the other hand, maybe
they won’t understand…Maybe this blog is just an excuse to come up short and not
be held accountable. Maybe it is it and ask them to move on. I am not really
sure how it's all going to play out. What I know is this: I love them! I only
want the best for them and that's always been at the center of what I do…At the
same time, I only get one shot at this parenting thing…and sometimes I don’t
get the luxury to sacrifice the present for the benefit of the future.
Where is the sweet spot? I don't know. My hope is that my delay in learning the perfect mix of preparing for the future versus living in the now does not do more harm than good. And if my children get the privilege to become parents, my constant prayer is that a foundation was built for them to learn from my pain and offer parenting in a way that I dreamed of becoming a reality.
A father who is always learning,
Elgrie J. Hurd III
As a parent this article was totally on point! You work for your kids to have what they need and WANT!! The struggle is real! Apologies are constant but what’s not is time.
ReplyDeleteAs a parent we know there is NO perfect instruction manual but one thing as a parent is getting around people, asking questions, learning from the successes and failures of our parents is also key.
ReplyDeleteBeing present with our presence seems to be a task within a task with all the distractions. Yet you're doing a great job mistakes and all