It's always the little things, isn't it?

You think you have everything under control, and then some little thing comes along and knocks you off your high chair. In my case it was a post card from our son Mark who’s the drummer in Malbec, an LA band that’s often described as Coldplay on steroids. They’re on tour now and the card was from New York.

It was addressed to my wife, Harriet. I read the card and was excited to learn how well the tour was going. Then I looked at the salutation again; in Mark’s unique hand it read, Mom…just Mom.

I stared at the card for what seemed a full minute, then sighed and laid it on the kitchen counter. As I was beginning to feel sorry for poor old forgotten dad, it suddenly dawned on me. That wasn’t the first postcard we’d gotten from Mark. The first one was from Indiana. That was the one where he apologized to Harriet for not sending her a Mother’s Day card and promised to make up for it with a bunch of postcards from the tour.

I chuckled and walked into the hallway where I could look myself in a mirror and repeat a mantra my daughter has taught me: It’s not all about you.