Your Children Are Not Your Children

July ended surrounded with loved ones and celebrating the newest boy in out tribe ~ Samuel Zeppelin!  It was so much fun to line up our boys and take these photos.  Right outside of the frame, sitting close watch, are the mothers of these three babies. We literally have decades now of photographs of the three of us lined up together. Now we have the next generation to line up for pictures. So cool!

This first meeting of Wynn, Ruben, and Sam was especially sacred because we gathered for Sam's blessing and baptism in the most beautiful ceremony that his mother crafted to mark the day.

I had the privilege of reading the writings of Kahlil Gibran, On Children, in which he explains, 

"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."

As I read I looked out into the audience of family and friends and my heart smiled to see the next generation of babies (lots of boys!!) listening.  I looked at all the "grown ups" that have brought forth these babies, and I was so thankful for the amazing friends that I have, and that will be part of my life as I raise my children. 

I looked to Mere's mother and realized how thankful I am for the generation that came before us, cared for us, and helped us become who we are.  I am so happy to be here to share in the life of her grandson and see the joy he brings her.

I also felt the very strong spirit of Mere's father with us that day. I know that he smiled to see all the love surrounding baby Samuel as we gathered to celebrate his life.  I definitely feel it is part of my role in Sam's life to help reiterate and impart the essence of the amazing man who is his grandfather, and share with him those qualities that I see have been preseved in his own mother.

The proud parent were glowing with happiness.

The godparents were beaming.

Anthony surprised all of us, especially, Sam - by hoisting him into the air at the end of the ceremony, but the motion matched the buoyant atmosphere.

I adored the fact that we were all there, friends and family, to pledge our faith in Sam's future and to promise that we will be there to help love and guide him along the way.

Now that I am a parent I can understand more wholly the meaning in the poem that states that our children are in fact not our own.  We are here to help mold them, but the life they make is their own.

I am so looking forward to watching this little bean grow into the most amazing young man!!