PERSPECTIVE

perspective perspective Generosity learning, being and doing The cycles of life Rolling with the generations and the pandemic

Ayoung man approached me in a parking lot yesterday. “My family and I are staying over

I’d like you to join me in welcoming Finnegan Fletcher Titterington to our world. He was born on June 12. He’s the first of his there and if we could get five dollars we could get a pizza. If we could get ten we could get two and that would cover us.” I had no idea whether his story was true. He looked as though he was living rough, though—gaunt, sunken cheeks, despairing eyes. Without hesitation, I pulled out my wallet and handed him ten bucks. I don’t know just why I did it. He wasn’t threatening. He wasn’t over imploring. He just seemed to really need a boost right then and interacting with him right there a couple of feet away, I just felt it was a moment.

It’s not that I’m on a mission to give away all of our money. I walk and drive by plenty of people who are asking for a little push. And I’m not driven to help others by a sense of guilt or even a feeling of being lucky enough to have it and these others don’t and so therefore it’s my social obligation to do it. Nor do I get a big sense of satisfaction. I have a hard time pinpointing why I feel compelled to help out sometimes, whether scooping a sidewalk for a neighbor or stopping to push a car, and other times not so much.

Every fall, a neighbor of ours comes by with his air compressor and blows out our sprinkler lines. He makes the rounds in our corner of the neighborhood and gets everyone ready for winter. He doesn’t ask for anything. He just does it because he can. It is not a transactional offer in any way.

Theresa Baer writes this month in her Learn and Live column about teaching children to be generous and to volunteer. She also offers some ideas about where and how. The idea is to help children to be aware of others’ needs and to understand that they, themselves, have something to offer.

The goal is for them, really all of us, to not just do generosity as an activity that we have come to understand as something that we should do because we’re lucky enough to have something and those other people are struggling. Where we’re really headed with this is for our children to see people who are just like they are, who just want to be happy just as they do and who don’t want to feel bad just as they don’t want to. We want to get beyond the them and us feelings. We don’t just drop money in a can and walk by. We stop. We talk and engage with people who are just like us.

In the end, we want to be generosity, not just do generosity, though the path to being generosity, it seems, lies through the path of doing generosity.

‘Tis the season,

Scott generation for both sides of the family, so the first grandchild and great grandchild. Plus, he has aunts and great-uncles and great-aunts around. He will be well loved and that’s the most important, some might say the only important, thing. And it’s especially fun to see how smitten his parents, Alli and Andy, are with the little guy.

And I know that every new grandparent thinks that their grandkid is the cutest kid ever, but little Fin really is the cutest kid ever, especially now that he’s not so yellow. You’ll get an opportunity to judge for yourself when he makes the cover in a few months.

Putting Fin on the cover is actually part of our 25th anniversary year celebration where we’re putting kids of former cover kids on the cover. As you might have guessed Andy was a cover kid more than once, and although Alli was never on the cover, her younger sister Akadia was.

So, this month, Hailey Brandt is on our cover. Her mother, Ashley, was on our first cover 25 years ago. If you’re reading this and you were a cover kid at one time and now have a kid or three of your own, shoot me an email at scott.rmpublishing@gmail.com.

Jumping gears a little, I just wanted to reflect a little on life as we transition out of a world dominated by COVID-19 precautions. I’m not sure how your world is turning but ours is definitely picking up speed! Friends and family members who we haven’t seen much or at all in more than a year are popping back up in our lives. Sometimes it feels as though we’re running a B&B. It is almost exhausting, at times.

At first it just seemed odd gathering with people and going out to stores and restaurants without a mask. I’m getting pretty used to that. In fact, I had to look for a mask the other day when I went into the Denver International Airport to pick up my brother and his family. I thought that was a good sign that I was putting the COVID-19 mentality behind me, although I do believe we still need to be cautious.

I am so glad for the gatherings, though, from the little impromptu moments with neighbors and their kids and puppies to grabbing a beverage with an-almost-forgotten friend to the four-family raft trip that we have on the books for this month.

And to bring it all around, it’s nice that little Fin was born at the tail end of the pandemic (at least here in Colorado) because so many people are so excited to see him!

Be well,

Scott

OCTOBER 2019 • Volume 24, Issue 6 JULY 2021 • Volume 25, Issue 2 PUBLISHER Scott Titterington, (970)221-9210 scott.rmpublishing@gmail.com PUBLISHER Scott Titterington, (970)221-9210 EDITOR scott.rmpublishing@gmail.com Kristin Titterington, (970)221-9210 kristin.rmpublishing@gmail.com EDITOR Kristin Titterington, (970)221-9210 CREATIVE DIRECTOR kristin.rmpublishing@gmail.com Emily Zaynard emily.rmpublishing@gmail.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Emily Zaynard ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR emily.rmpublishing@gmail.com Greg Hoffman, (970)689-6832 greg.rmpublishing@gmail.com ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Greg Hoffman, (970)689-6832 DISTRIBUTION MANAGER greg.rmpublishing@gmail.com ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVE Susan Hartig susan.rmpublishing@gmail.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVE Susan Harting COVER PHOTO susan.rmpublishing@gmail.com Cheri Schonfeld, Courtesy of Sky’s Open Design - skysopendesign.com COVER PHOTO Cheri Schonfeld CONTRIBUTING WRITERS www.skysopendesign.com Theresa Baer, Lea Hanson, Katie Harris, Lynn U. Nichols CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Theresa Baer, Lea Hanson Lynn U. Nichols, Scott Titterington Tim Van Schmid ROCKY MOUNTAIN PUBLISHING PO Box 740 Fort Collins, CO 80522 ROCKY MOUNTAIN PUBLISHING Voice 221-9210 • Fax 221-8556 PO Box 740 editor@rockymountainpub.com Fort Collins, CO 80522 www.RMParent.com Voice 221-9210 • Fax 221-8556 editor@rockymountainpub.com Rocky Mountain Parent magazine is published monthly by Rocky Mountain Publishing, Inc. www.RMParent.com Publication of this paper does not consitute an endorsement of the products or services advertised. RMP reserves the right to refuse any advertisement for any reason. The opinions expressed by contributors or writers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rocky Mountain Publishing. ©2019 Rocky Mountain Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without express written permission is prohibited. Rocky Mountain Parent magazine is published monthly by Rocky Mountain Publishing, Inc. Publication of this paper does not consitute an endorsement of the products or services advertised. RMP reserves the right to refuse any advertisement for any reason. The opinions expressed by contributors or writers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rocky Mountain Publishing. ©2021 Rocky Mountain Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without express written permission is prohibited.

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