the southern
K ID S THESE D AY S
Father Still Knows Best by Tara Bailey
A
year or so ago I felt social pressure from people posting their kids’ college acceptances for everyone to admire. My child wanted the world to know that she, too, was no dummy, and would I please publicly announce her acceptance to the schools of her choice. So I did.
I recently recognized that familiar feeling as soon as COVID vaccine appointments opened up for seniors ages 70 and up. It seemed that all of my friends were sharing their joy and relief in getting their parents’ vaccines scheduled. I returned their elation and couldn’t wait to receive word from my own parents that they, too, soon would be getting jabbed. I wanted the date, time, and location of their appointments so I could finally count the days until I could hug them again. Being the intelligent, sophisticated,
internet-savvy people they are, it never crossed my mind that they would need help getting an online appointment. In fact, at nearly fifty, I’m the one who still calls them for help navigating strange waters that seem to get stranger the older I get. So, I waited for their text. And waited. Surely they had gotten up in the wee hours, fingers at the keyboard, ready to claim their time. We had talked the previous day about how excited we were that this was becoming a reality, and I made them promise that they would get online the second their eyes opened. It was comforting to know that my parents, ever-efficient planners, would be among the first in line. A text finally arrived from my dad during my planning period at school. It was inquiring about details of our beach trip at the end of June. See what I mean about planning? I ignored his question
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