Three retired minister friends
sat discussing difficulties in
the lives of their children —

three in their early fifties,
one in his late forties. You
could see the strain on the

friends’ faces and hear the
fear and vulnerability in
their voices. One remarked

that they all used the word
“kid” when referring to those
post middle-age people. They

paused, reflected and then
chuckled in a moment of blessed
comic relief. Those post middle-

age persons would never use
the word “kid” in reference
to themselves but they would

use the word “kid” in refer-
ence to their children now
and when they discuss the

troubles of those children
when those children are post
middle-age persons and for

years and years afterward
for as long as those parents
are alive and kicking.