Family Motto

     When my children were at home, I tried to instill in them the family motto:  How can I help?  They assured me that was my personal motto, theirs was:  What's in it for me?  For many years I wondered which credo they would ultimately adopt.  If I ever say my children were no trouble to raise, you will know it is time to lock me away, I have lost touch with reality.  But now that they are grown I am gratified to see that "How can I help?" caught on after all.  My oldest and youngest have this trait in common--their bark is worse than their bite.  They may complain that someone is not worthy of help or that the project is a waste of time, but when the times comes to help, they are right there with you.  My oldest son, aptly named Will (if I had know his name would define him, I would have named him Les) is, to paraphrase Jesus, a Montanan in whom is no guile.  His bark is exactly the same as his bite.  Frankly, it is difficult to raise a child with that much integrity, a little bit of fake cooperation would have been appreciated.  Will does help people, but he chooses which people and projects he thinks are particularly worthy and picks the time he is willing to sacrifice. However, we are continually hearing from people about some wonderful thing Will did for them, so he must know a lot of worthy people.
     Neighbor helping neighbor is such a way of life here in Montana that I didn't realize it is not that way  everywhere until our son wound up with a roommate from California.  For him work is something you do while you are getting paid, your time off is for recreation only.  The idea of working for eight hours at your regular job and helping a buddy with haying for four hours after work was unthinkable to him.  He couldn't understand why Tracy didn't tell us he wasn't available when we needed his muscles, truck or mechanical expertise for some project at our house.  It's a good thing Tracy doesn't think that way because some of our projects literally could not be done without his help.  It is such a comfort to know he has our backs and will be at our side, but enough about backsides.
     Our daughter and son-in-law have remodeled two houses in their seven year marriage and, on their vacations, do the same thing at our house.  They have the tools, skills and, most of all, the ambition to accomplish in days projects we have been putting off for years. It is a mixed blessing to have them come because they are working vacations for all of us and the house is torn up.  I didn't use the good china for Christmas dinner this year as it seemed out of place against the backdrop of the ironing board and other laundry room detritus stored in our dining room.  All the parts of our house that don't look dated to the 70's are compliments of Britten and Luke.
     We are also gratified when we find out about other people our children have helped, it's just more fun when we are the beneficiaries.  It is also fun to know that my children learned something from me in spite of themselves.  The next motto I would like to see fulfilled:  "I hope someday you have children just like you."