contribution

Sitting in the back of a taxi, listening as a good humoured 67 year old Bangladeshi born taxi driver told me his life story, his 50 years in Yorkshire, his wife, children and eight grandchildren. We joked I'd write a book about him once out of the taxi!

As these things do, the conversation turned to my family, so I told him about being childless and about my work with children. He began to speak and I braced myself, BUT he amazed me by saying, 'that's how you make your contribution, the children will never forget you'. 

I was quietly staggered - my input being acknowledged and recognised by a parent, as part of the rich and complex tapestry of child raising, not excluded or dismissed. Did he have any idea of the impact of these words? I'll never forget them.