Cattāri Brahmavihārā

My son woke up this morning with a headache and had ended up staying home. As always,  his mother and I tried to discern the cause of the headache through a series of questions: did you feel sick yesterday?  Did you hit your hear?  Is it getting better or worse? All manner of fears arise and you find yourself contemplating nightmare scenarios while alternately being irritated by your child’s inability to articulate their trite feelings and the possible etiology of their malady.

Such is parenthood and such is life. None of its escapes from sickness or death and this fact of samsara colors every moment of my life as a father. As uncomfortable as it is I need to realize that my son and daughter have bodies as fragile and ephemeral add my own and that any sickness can be the last. Scary? Certainly. But what better reason to practice?