What I think is so funny

Odd funny

Is how raising children has changed.

When I was four my mother left me outside

The supermarket

While she shopped. She said stay here and though

I wandered off she found me

Eventually.

When Karl was eight he sailed in a small boat for hours every day

Catching fish until night fell

By himself.

When my daughter was six

She trudged in all seasons through the woods to the

School bus stop and back

Stopping to look at interesting rocks from time to time.

When I was seven I walked to

A luncheonette four blocks from my school

Every day

And ate a scrambled egg sandwich.

When my son was twelve he and his friends disappeared for hours

Wandering the town, the railroad tracks, the river.

They were home for dinner.

When my daughter was two I drove to California in our VW bus

Without a car seat or seat belt.

Sometimes she sat on my lap and helped steer.

I don’t know if I am horrified

And amazed we survived

Or sorry.