‘These Chr

_. WELEN do you know
you've reached middie
age?

Try when your Christmas
wish list includes such excit-
ing accoutrements as socks,
dies, boxer shorts and dress
shirts. I eemember having to

. get these things for my own

dad and wondering how dull |

his life must be to have actu-
ally asked for them, bur. now,
in my own dull fife, I’ve
come to learn the value of
real necessitics. :
These are the things I
ask for as well. “Whoa,

boy, aren’t these boxers just a ~

perfect match for those socks?
ice, honcy and kids, you've
jone ourselves!” ; :

But i
an ideal Christmas wish list,
one that’ doesn’t need me to
be practical, F'think I'd try a
few different things. Let me
pretend, for a moment, that I
had a. Christmas genie who ~
would grant me whatever
wishes I desired. What would

‘entire
Tcout id jus
ator up and

Twas able to make |

everyone, it would take away
an awful lot of anxiety about
my own parents, my wife and
my children. If 1 just knew
that every day we'd all wake
up feeling good, I don’t

’ think there’s much else we'd

need, other than the requisite
roof over our heads and three
decent meals a day. I’ve seen
those who lose their health,
and nothing clse ‘matters to
them.

Sometimes we need to

keep our priorities straight.

°° Mly second wish would be
to laugh every.day with my
‘friends and family.

The ioke-a-day on the

_ Internet is helping, but some-

times I wish I could be closer
to those we care about and ~
able to spend more time just

enjoying each other’s compa-"
RY! 7s .

isimas g

Such reflective thinking
comes with boxer shorts
under the tree, | think, but
when all is really said and
done, there’s no one more
important than vour family
and best friends, not your
boss, your customer nor your
tax accountant. OK, maybe
the tax accountant, but that’s
about it.

My third wish would
entail travelling with my fam-
ily.

. How I'd love to teach
western history to my kids
with 4 trip through Europe,
fet them see the marvels of
the Middle East, the customs
and rich history of the
Orient, the vastness of the
ocean and the wonder of the
rainforest. How much
would love for them to be
truly global citizens, familiar
with and excited by the diver-

of the carth’s peoples and
tures, able to converse and
share with those who appreci-
ate the common bond we all
hold as human beings, the
need for purpose in our lives
and love in our homes.
Health, happiness and a

“Chub membenitp prograrfes extra, Woners to be cortactod by phone.
RECRIUATION ABOUT Sk CLUES ON THE NORTH SHORE CALL:

Cypress Mountain 290-6769
Grouse Mountain 739-6845
Mount SEvMOUR 736-0059

UMBIA

Wednesday, December 15, 1999 — North Shore Mews ~ 45

PARENTING —

lifts bea si

chance co sce the world
together as a family. Now
those three things would beat
the heck oui of socks and
boxer shorts.

Still, I have to be grateful.
To date, touch wood, we've
all been blessed with good
health. Up to now, our lives
have had a few challenges,
but on the whole, we’ve
laughed an awfu! lot more
than we've cried and we've
learned to phone, c-mail, visit
and sometimes just stop and
think about the anes we love.
And while there’s a big world
out there that we haven’
secn, we've travelled some,
we take in the news together,
search information on the
World Wide Web and gener-
ally try to understand both
the complexity and the sim-
plicity of living in the modern
world. Some day, we hope to
travel some more, sometimes
aione, sometimes together.
We make little plans around
that when we want to dream
a bit.

Now that I come to think
about it, this year it’s the
practical things I actually

Read

cks

need. My wishes are sitting
before me, maybe on a slight-
ly limited scale, but there for
the taking every day.

I wonder if my dad felt
the same way when he
opened package after package
of socks and underwear on
Christmas morning. I
remember him seeming so
pleased with them, to my
utter amazement. Thirty-five
years later ! finally under-
stand why needing only socks
gave him such pleasure.

— Graham Hookey is the
author of Parenting Is A
Team

Sport. (ghookey@yatno.com)

it’s readcheck season again.

ir. Snapp:

“Santa si
Te br

ope at