Keeping Up With The Times

Well over a year ago, in conversationMy son told me he was ‘chalant’I told him that wasn’t a wordHe insisted it wasI insisted it wasn’tMy son is an extremely laid back young manHe could be late for something he cares aboutAnd still saunter from the car to the door when I drop him offI have literally never seen him runI assumed he meant nonchalantBecause, well, he isBut it turns out, he is sometimes, out in the wildMore invested, proactive and engagedNot afraid of people seeing his interest and careAnd thereby referred to by some as chalantA term I found both incorrect and ludicrousUntil about 5 months ago when I started seeing articles about being chalantPopping up everywhereThis idea of being unabashedly emotionally availableI had to call my son and eat crowLuckily, he’s pretty gracious about itIt’s not the first time I’ve had to update my filesVia a little scuffle with my kids I was sure I was right aboutIt feels that somewhere between puberty and driver’s licensesThe dynamic shiftedThe flow of information no longer went from me to themBut slowly began to reverseInstead of me informing themThey began updating meIt’s humblingAnd often hilariousAnd it makes me feel better about the futureI was happy to learn that my laid-back son isn’t afraid to be present and engagedIndeed, he told me“I can’t wait to see how emotionally intelligent my kids are’‘Oh yeah?’ I asked“Yeah. I mean, you’re so much more emotionally intelligent than your parentsAnd i’m so much more emotionally intelligent than you…”After I stopped laughingAnd maybe wanting to kick himIn all his sincerity and all of mineI kindof like that what I think I know isn’t necessarily ‘right’ anymoreThat new things are always emergingI just hope I can keep up This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fallingtenderly.substack.com