The Drive

For those of you who don't know me very well, I'll give a quick bit of background, and hopefully, someday, I'll be able to post more about the "important" parts of my life on here.When I was in 8th grade, my older brother Kyle, had his right leg amplutated due to bone cancer. This was the start of me witnessing GREAT parenting. It's been said that God will never give you more than you can handle, but I'm sure this is about as close as you can get as a parent.During the next year, my freshman year in High School, Kyle served as the team manager, as he couldn't swim (as fast). Each afternoon, Kyle would drive me to high school practice in another town because we didn't have a pool at our school, then Mom would come to pick me up, to take me to USS practice (I swam 3 times a day Mon-Wed-Fri). In between High School and USS practice, Mom would serve Kyle and I dinner in the parking lot so we could eat together, then Kyle would go home, and Mom would take me to the next practice. Mom would then go home, and Dad would pick me up on his way home from work.This wasn't even the worst of the driving situations for Mom, as at one point, all three sons trained at different times at the same pool, exactly 1/2 hour away from our house. This meant 3 hours a day in the car, back and forth and back and forth.The thing is, the dinners, the driving, the time spent by my parents in the car, in retrospect seems like a HUGE burden. HOWEVER, to hear them tell it, this was QUALITY TIME. These are exact words from my father. This was his quality time with his son or sons.There were no distractions, no outside interference, nothing to influence my attention other than a listening ear. Or, as most kids get, a quiet place after a very hectic day, and when it was time to talk, we talked.In writing this, I also realize that I am missing that time with my kids. That special one-on-one time that Mom and Dad had with me once my oldest brother got to college, and after Kyle went to heaven. See, I have twins. They both do the same things. Swim, basketball, soccer. They're daughter and son, but they do so many things together, that I rarely have one all alone. See, I think this discussion area can be therapeutic for parents, and teach us all a few things, even if we're just talking to ourselves.Looks like I've got some work to do to spend some of that time with each of my children. Now I've discovered another problem. Neither of them likes to ride with me as they say I drive to fast!Go figure, looks like I'm going to have to get back on my bike.