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Intergenerational Bonding
proud of your tender conscience. You
are always teaching us
·
something
wonderful. You never cease to amaze
us. You are the best--truly World Class.
You'll always be in our "Hall of Fame."
You make us so happy and proud--so
much so, that we have one final request-–
can we have your autograph.
And here is a short paragraph adapted from
our son's medical school application:
My life's mission is to pay back,
through
a
life of medical service, that gift
that was given to me those many years
ago. I intend to make it my life's goal to
help people gain greater mobility, battle
against needless suffering, and avert
premature death.
How did we get from there to here? In the
summer of 1994, and after we had all survived
the teen years to our house, a longtime
neighbor startled me with this question:
"What
Did You Do To Raise Such Fine Kids?"
Honestly, I was speechless, and finally
managed a feeble,
"They are?--Beats me--Let's
wait 50 years until we decide that."
Although
we didn't have a formal approach or a code
etched in stone, early and often we
communicated the following to our kids (we are
just now documenting it in writing):
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