We were carrying on an email conversation with friends and fellow missionaries from our Mexico days.  Talking about the holidays and remembering back to the early years.  Our conversation went something like this:

We gathered up our parents grand-kids and packed them off to Mexico without a backward glance.  It didn't cross our minds that we were robbing two (not one but two) sets of grandparents of their precious grand-kids.  After all, we had God's call on our lives.  Surely that was all that mattered.

Many long years would pass before we began to realize what we had done to them.  And it was way to late to make amends.  This time around it was US taking off for far away Darkest Africa and leaving our children behind.  And suddenly we got to experience what it felt like to be deprived of their presence during all the holidays.  We looked at each other and said "OH MY GOODNESS!  THIS IS WHAT WE DID TO OUR PARENTS!"  

What's the saying?  Too soon old; too late smart.  Sure applied to us.