Thanks for Noticing

Author's Note: This was started last year (but finished this week).


Olivia called tonight from college. She didn't call to ask for money. She didn't call to ask for help. She didn't call because she missed us (although I'm sure she does).

She called to ask a question.

The phone rang. I picked it up.

"Hey Bia!"

"Hi, Mom. I just have a question. How can Ted Cruz be elected President if he's not a natural born citizen of the United States?"

Now, the answer to her question doesn't really matter in the context of this story. You can be a Democrat or a Republican or a Democratic Socialist (go Bernie!) or whatever, and I think you can still appreciate this. Here was a nineteen year old, sitting in her dorm room on a Sunday evening of a three-day weekend, calling her parents to inquire about the current state of the presidential election.

So many things to appreciate.

First off, she is aware of the developing issues in this election cycle. She didn't stop with the above question. She went on to detail for me what she had been taught in her political science class regarding qualifications for becoming president, as well as her interpretation of the phrase "natural born citizen". She knew where Ted Cruz had been born. She thought the idea that a person could be a natural born citizen of two countries was ludicrous. And she wondered why in her own lifetime the whole "where were you born" issue seemed to keep coming up with regard to people running for President (John McCain, Barack Obama, Ted Cruz). It does seem odd, now that I think about it.

What made me a tad bit giddy was that I was having this discussion with Olivia at her behest. SHE called US to talk politics.

There are so many ideas and passions and values that I hope we are passing down to our kids. I have come to realize that almost all of those things we pass down by example. You can't just talk a big game with your kids. You have to walk the walk.

I'm glad to know that our kids picked up on some of our better habits. Steven chose to give his grandparents a Heifer International donation in their name for Christmas. Love that. Olivia called her grandparents from college just to chat and check in with them one evening because she hadn't seen them in a while. Nicely done. Both kids write truly thoughtful thank-you notes when they receive gifts (without me telling them to). That makes me so happy.

When I see our kids exhibiting some of our better practices, I'm reminded of a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, which I think sums up the idea of this post:  "What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying."

Thanks for noticing, Steven and Olivia :)