Tales to tell

I have very little legitimacy for my eldest sons. They temper almost everything I say with, I'm guessing, a dose of misogyny and a dash of ageism. I've told them both, and Jake has been crushed by this, that paperwork stands between them and success. Of course I know there are other factors that will come in to play depending on the situation. However, after personal experiences and watching people around me sink into the deluge of applications, cover letters, aid forms, recommendations, duplicates of personal forms and various other examples of vellum to fill out, I've concluded that if you can manage it, you can do anything. Today, Gus looked at me with a glazed over expression, after I went off for a bit about having to fill out additional forms for him, and how asking him to do his part seemed to garner somewhat of an inconvenienced reaction. He was getting ready to go back to school after spring break, and based on a pattern that probably began with my parents, I started to get worked up about a small infraction, and that got the ball rolling. I circumvented the usual meltdown by disengaging from the argument, realizing, that I don't expect them to live by everything I say, just the things that matter.