Officer’s Bars

My son who is currently living in the US has come for a visit, and the army graciously allowed “Y” to come home for a few days to visit with him. (“D” is already home, as he is basically finished with his regular army service. Now he will only need to serve occaisionally, as a reserve soldier.) As he came in the door, “Y” handed me his army uniform. “Hey”:, he grinned, “I got some stripes”. Yes he has gained a rank, and it is my chance to sew his bars to his uniform sleeve. I am already used to this, from my experiences with “D”. “You’re proud to do it, aren’t you?” [Proud? I’m not sure. After all, these bars are his first, and are given out pretty freely to anyone who has served a certain amount of time. I mean, it’s not like he did anything extraordinary… I AM proud that he is a dedicated, responsible person. This would be similar to saying that I am not PROUD for doing the dishes today, but I am proud that I am doing a good job (I hope!) as a parent.] But of course I didn’t tell him that. I grinned, and got out my olive-green thread…. Later, my two active army sons were talking with their older brother about the importance of exercise. He, in turn, was explaining to them that “body building” can be unhealthy. “But you want to be able to tell the girls that you do ‘body building’, don’t you?” And it was obvious that he had hit the target (“Y”) straight on. Yes, we all have the need to feel worthwhile, admired, and appreciated. It’s part of our psyche. So let’s try and do things we can REALLY be proud of, and to stroke our children’s egos as much as we can…..