2018 is in full swing. The worst of the winter has passed (hopefully!) and Spring is around the corner. This time each year, hope springs anew. After a dormant winter, spring arrives with trees budding and flowers blooming. Regardless of how many times I experience the beginning of Spring, it is always a delight. It seems that we almost forget how wonderful it is when we come out of Winter and enter Spring each year. This year is no different, although this year it is even more wonderful! For we have just experienced the birth of our latest grandchild, our first grandson, born February 24th early in the morning.
Andrew Sebastian Kildosher, son of our daughter Chatham and son-in-law Johnathan, has joined his cousins, Mary Grace, Elsie, and Virginia, to fill our lives with immense joy. How blessed we are to have these precious grandchildren. And what a responsibility we have to assure that they have the best life possible. Unfortunately, we don’t always agree on the variables involved in creating that best life.
It is no surprise to anyone that we live in a divided society. We seem polarized on so many levels. These issues have always concerned me, but never more so than when I think of the world our children and grandchildren could inherit. Most of us would agree that regardless of our beliefs, we wish only the best for them. But how can that happen if we do not create a better world?
The common denominator most of us share related to our children and grandchildren is Love. Love for them and of them. It is love that gets us through the early days when the children do not sleep many hours at a time. It is love that gets us through the school years, through all the soccer practices, and dance recitals. It is love that helps us let go when we need to, when they get their driver’s license, have their first date, and eventually go off to college.
If we could only dig deep and find that love for others who do not think like we think, act like we act, look like we look. Love. Loving others in spite of our many differences, or because of them.
When we have difficulty loving others, we can remember our children and grandchildren when they were young. Remember how we loved them in spite of the many challenges, or because of them.
Love.
