It won’t last. It won’t last long at all, so I had better enjoy it. Mitchell and I are at camp together this week, and he wants me to do everything with him. He invites me to eat with his friends, and join in his group for morning classes. He and I have our nightly debriefing right before lights out at 11:30 p.m. I fully realize that it won’t last.

I am actually a part of the camp staff this week. Camp Cornerstone is geared specifically for middle school age kids. Once again I have the privilege of being the Head Men’s Counselor. I do have 28 high school and college age men carrying the bulk of the counseling load. My role is to counsel them, and there have already been some tremendous opportunities to listen to their personal concerns.

Mitchell will move on to Camp Zenith for high school students next summer. I suspect that his eagerness for dad to be close around will move on as well. That is normal, and I expect it. Anticipating such transitions causes us to be more grateful for the blessing of the moment. When I was a young father, I could not wait until the boys could walk and talk, and do all kinds of things. I was in such a rush. Now I savor every developmental stage. Part of my inclination to be more grateful is the fact that he is the third and final child.

I recall taking him to his first day of school in the first grade. “Do you want me to go in with you?” Of course he did not want me to go in with him. He was a 6 year old searching for independence at that point. It was hard on me, because I knew that was the last time I would take a child to the first grade.

Independence really is a good thing. All three of my boys have gone to camp and other trips away from mom and dad with great eagerness. They have never been clingy or dependent in an unhealthy way. We are grateful for that as well. Someday they will be totally independent adults, and support their father in the fashion to which has become accustomed. (The truth is they will spoil their mother, which of course is the right thing to do!)

I have learned some new lessons this week. Dependent behavior is not all bad. In fact, I am actually enjoying this quick diversion off the fast track to independence. Maybe life itself for all of us is a constant see saw of movement back and forth between dependence and independence. We start out as babies being totally dependent, and after a period of relative independence we come full circle. As we age, we become increasingly dependent again. Both behaviors have merit, because we learn to give and receive with a gracious spirit.

Where are you today? Are you watching your child learn to walk? That is a good thing. Enjoy it. It won’t last. Are you caring for a loved one with lots of health concerns? Treasure the time. It won’t last. Are you healthy enough to drive yourself to wherever you want to go? Enjoy that too. It won’t last forever either.

I better go have that nightly debriefing with Mitchell. Such opportunities won’t last.