I love to write. I have found that writing forces me to examine myself, to figure out what is most important to me. Maybe it’s the act of putting my feelings down on paper. Somehow it seems more permanent. I guess I feel that if I am going to go to all of the trouble to write something down, it should be something worthwhile.

I recently began to think about what type of legacy I would be leaving after I passed away. None of this was in a morbid sense, I just began to wonder what my kids and those around me would most remember about me after I was gone. Would they clearly be able to know what I stood for?

With that in mind, I will spend the next several days trying to share with you my thoughts on the life lessons I have tried to teach my kids.

Why is it that everything has gotten more serious? How often do you really see someone doubled over just cracking up? Where has all of the fun gone?

It is very easy to get caught up in all of this and miss all of the wonderful things going on around us.

In our house, we have made it a rule that some serious silliness can happen at any moment. The other night a couple of my kids were in the other room wrestling and carrying on. The problem was that I didn’t think they were being loud enough for the neighbors down the street to hear.

Doing my best Comanche Indian war cry, I went running into the room they were in and pounced on them and an all-out tickle war broke out. Within minutes the rest of the family came running from parts unknown to join in the fray. It was utter chaos, but it was great fun!

Later that night I had the chance to reflect on what had happened and I realized that one of the greatest gifts we can give our children is the ability have spontaneous fun. As parent we are terrific at teaching our kids how to live responsibly, how to get all of their work done but we need to spend just as much time teaching them how not to get their work done, how to just have fun. After all, isn’t that what being a kid is all about?