Today our little man turns one year old. We couldn't be happier with how this past year has gone: he's as happy as the photos depict (most of the time) and each day is filled with new surprises as he continues to explore his surroundings. While we're excited to see what he'll be like as an older child, teenager and young man we'd be just as willing to freeze time so he never changes - he's that cool. But, of course, so much of that is beyond our control. All we can do is our best as parents and enjoy the ride.
To that end, a few words on the subject written in 1923 by a Lebanese-American poet:
On Children
by Kahlil Gibran
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
But seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Happy first Birthday cool little dude!
Dad da misses you!
