Too Late for Children; Too Early for Grandchildren.

My daughter is 32.  She got married last year, and she lives in Boston.  She and her husband are planning for a pregnancy in 2016.

My son is 35.  He just got engaged, and he and his fiancee are planning to be married in 2016.  He lives in San Francisco.  Children?  Who knows?

I don't know what to say about my experience of children.  I loved them, of course.  They were my children.  I raised them, I love them, I care about them.  And I could tolerate their earlier childishness, because I knew they would outgrow it.  They're good people now.

But really, I don't frankly love "children," as a general phenomenon.  They're high maintenance, they're noisy, they're unruly, and they make mischief.  "You gotta love 'em" to put up with it.  And you have to know, as I knew, it's temporary.

Yesterday, one of my friends alerted me to a facebook page called "People for a Better Biscayne Park."  A couple of postings were directed at me personally, and they also included complaints about the log cabin renovation and specifically about the dais.

It turns out that the "People" who claim to want a "Better Biscayne Park" are primarily Elizabeth Jacobs, and secondarily her husband, Noah Jacobs.  It takes a bit of probing to get them to identify themselves.

What I discovered is that after the Jacobses go on about what gripes them, and take whatever swipes it pleases them to take, they get really quiet when someone else, like me, responds to them, answers their questions, and confronts their "Bevis and Butthead-"like approach to complaining.  Some of those responses were lengthy, pithy, and informative.  Soon enough, I also learned, they collapse into "You win," but they add a couple more swipes to that.  It seems that once you challenge them, you discover that their entire approach is ad hominem spitball launching, with no actual substance.  Except the spit.

The next thing that happens, which appears to be the last thing that happens, is that they then remove all of my comments (those that demonstrated how breathtakingly wrong these "People" were), but they claim I removed them, as if I would even know how to do that, if it's even possible for a commenter to remove his own comments.  Sadly, I think I must have made very clear to them how tech-unsavvy I am.  So no, kids, I did not remove my own comments.  I don't know how, and why would I?  You removed them, and you lied about it.

In any case, I now see what children I have to deal with, between the old days of my own children and the coming days of my grandchildren.  I wanted my children.  I signed on for that.  It was my pleasure and my honor to have been the part of their lives I was and continue to be.  I'll want and love my grandchildren, too.  I take full responsibility for my children, and I'll play a role in the development of my grandchildren.  But I didn't count on having to deal with the "People for a Better Biscayne Park."  These children are not my responsibility, and frankly, they are not welcome parts of my life.