It’s so much. We drive them around. We put them back to sleep. We help them with homework. We pay for them to go to school. We clean up their messes. 

“Here lies a woman who was always tired,” went a couplet favored by Clementine Churchill, “For she lived in a world where too much was required.” 

Is that not our fate in elegy form? It is. Forever and always. 

So what’s the lesson from today’s email? First off, it’s to sound a note of concern for your spouse and for your friends. We’re all struggling under enormous burdens as parents—burdens made all the greater by this virulent, long-lasting pandemic that has sapped us all. Second, it’s to remember: We wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re tired because this is the greatest, most challenging job there ever was. Much is required because so much is riding on it—this is multi-generational impact we’re cultivating here. Who ever said that would be easy?

So keep at it. Have some perspective and some empathy. And don’t give up!