What’s so wonderful about being a parent is how it connects us to every father and mother and family that came before us. There is a line in one of Seneca’s essays: “illi in litoribus harenae congestu simulacra domuum excitant hi ut magnum aliquid agentes . . .” (“while children at the beach bring toy houses to life out of heaps of sand, as though engaged in a grand enterprise . . .”).
That’s the kind of timeless observation that a writer at the beach with their kids would make. Seneca was spending time with family and he was struck by the innocence and the metaphor of kids building sandcastles . . . just as your kids build sandcastles. And with that, two thousand years of distance evaporates. A father in ancient Rome, exactly the same as a father in Pensacola over spring break or a mom at a public beach in Africa’s Ivory Coast.
It can be humbling and comforting to take the time to think of these moments. As you try to rein in your difficult teenager, as your three-month- old falls asleep in your arms, as you nurse your daughter with health problems through her recovery—the fact that this kind of thing has been happening throughout human history should be heartening. They made it; you’re going to make it.
What a tradition you are part of. Think how many parents have come before you and will come after. We all struggle. We all triumph. We all smile watching our kids play in the sand.
Parenthood, this timeless enterprise.