The years before the Civil War were rough on Ulysses S. Grant. He was struggling to make a life for his family. There was a sadness about his life, an endless drudgery of frustration and disappointment, of one failed career, one hardship after another.
There was only one respite to this. When Grant opened the front door to his house after work each day, his young son, Jesse, was waiting to challenge him to a fight. Jesse would boast he could beat his father. Grant, with faux seriousness, would look at the tiny boy and answer the provocation, “I do not feel like fighting, Jesse, but I can’t stand being hectored in this manner by a man of your size.” Jesse would then hurl himself at his father until he brought him down. On the ground, Grant would beg for mercy and shout that it wasn’t fair to attack an opponent who had fallen.
In just a few short years, Grant’s bulldog tenacity and toughness would shock—and save—the nation. It was Grant who broke the back of the Confederate army, fighting brutal battle after brutal battle. But those who knew him best knew that at heart he was a softy. That he loved his family more than anything.
It doesn’t matter what you do for a living or how bleak things might be— playing with your kids is a wonderful thing. Play with them if they’re young. Play with them if they’re old, if you’re old. Have fun with them. Be kids together. Play. Play. Play.