One of the major complaints I had about my father when I was growing up was how he kept to his same routine no matter what was going on around us. He would come home from work and read the newspaper. He would then eat dinner and watch television. On weekends he did chores around the house and then went to play golf. In the winter when golf couldn’t be played he and his friends would meet at a local restaurant and figure out solutions to all the world’s problems. I couldn’t understand how anyone could let their life become so routine and predictable. I knew I would never become so set in my ways. Unfortunately my daughter seems to think the routine demon has taken possession of me and my wife.
“What could possibly make you think I’m set in my ways?”
“Oh dear father it might be because I’m able to know the day of the week by the pants you’re wearing. Try wearing black pants on a Thursday instead of every Tuesday. Go a little wild. It might do you some good.”
“Then what would I wear on Tuesday?”
“I don’t know. Try a nice aqua blue. That would be a good change. Then wear a different color the next week. It could change your life.”
“I think the Communist Party is run by people wearing aqua blue pants on Tuesdays. I’m a true American. I’m going to continue observing black pants Tuesday.”
“Black pants Tuesday? What are you talking about? Let’s discuss your obsession with the brown coffee mug?”
“What about my coffee mug?”
“No matter how many clean mugs are on the shelf you will search every inch of this house to have your morning coffee in that brown mug. I hope you realize nothing will happen if one morning you actually have coffee in another mug.”
“What you don’t understand is that I’ve bonded with that coffee mug. I’ve not bonded with any other mug. It’s an issue of coffee mug respect.”
“How can you bond with a piece of ceramic?”
“I’ll have you know I drank coffee from that mug the day you were born. I’ve started many important days in my life with that coffee mug. I plan to drink coffee from it on many more mornings. Don’t blame me because your young life is empty and unfulfilled from lack of coffee mug bonding.”
That was when my daughter crossed the line. She went to a place few people return from unscathed.
“Dad you’re acting just like your father.”
How dare my daughter accuse me of such a thing. Just because she doesn’t understand the importance of black pants Tuesday or coffee mug bonding is no reason to say I’m like my father. I would ask my dad what to do but he’s no help. If I complain about my daughter’s behavior he just bursts into laughter and walks away mumbling something about the circle being complete. When I spoke with my wife I discovered our daughter had made the same false allegations against her.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with our child. The other day she told me she thinks I should cook something different on pot roast Wednesday. Can you imagine she actually thinks clothes can be washed on a day other than Saturday morning wash day? She even said we could go to a different restaurant on Sundays and have something other than the brunch at the Main Street Lounge. Then she had the nerve to tell me that my boring routine is even more predictable than my mother’s boring routine.”
“The girl is obviously out of control. She knows nothing about our parents and the repetitive existence we endured in our youth. If she did she’d understand how we’re very different than our parents.”
“I agree.”
I discussed the situation with my friends at the Main Street Lounge on Sunday. It appeared that I was not the only parent whose child had become so judgmental.
“You think your daughter’s bad. My son said we’re boring and should go on vacation to someplace other than our cabin. He wants to go to some foreign country. I told him put the cabin in that country and I’ll be there.”
“That’s nothing. My two kids think my wife and I are stuck in a routine because our cars have always been Fords. I know there are other kinds of cars out there but I’ve bonded with Ford vehicles.”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
After we all had a collective sigh I got everyone’s attention.
“Have we become our parents?”
After the shock of that statement wore off someone spoke.
“I don’t know if we’ve become our parents as much as we went and had children who judge us just like we judged our parents.”
I could almost hear my father laughing. I guess the circle had actually become complete.
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