Feels like it's finally here. That thing called Spring
that we have waited for for so long. And
doesn't it feel good? Like anything, the having is all the sweeter for a long
wait.
With the spring have come thoughts of the children that
have sprung from me. Perhaps because they have been away on holiday during half
term. I guess I think about them a lot. This is undoubtedly because I do not
live with them but in a nursing home instead and unfortunately we are separated
much of the time. This artificial distance gives me perhaps a perspective on
them which I would not otherwise have.
The thing is I really like them. Of course I love them
(more than life itself, actually) I mean that as well as love them I really
LIKE them: the people they are becoming
My daughter is a very pretty girl. And all the prettier
because she does not act as if if she knows it. However she does not have
outward looks alone She has an inner beauty that shines out of her. It is a
beacon that I'm sure will attract many people during her lifetime.
She is also great company: a lovely person to be with.
The kind of person that you just feel better after being with her.
Add to all this brains, humour, maturity, common sense
and kindness and she really does have it all. Oh. and she has the singing voice
of an angel too. She is still only 14 but already is one hell of a woman!
As for my son, what of him? He is two years younger so has more growing
and developing ahead of him than his sister. He also is a looker: a very
handsome boy and becomingly modest, too.
I wonder that his little arms are not pulled out of their
sockets with the sheer weight of his not inconsiderable gifts, which are as
weighty as his sisters'. He is
fiendishly clever: capable across the board of being good at anything he puts
his mind to. He is also wickedly funny: he can have me crying with laughter in
seconds, thanks to his clowning around and ascerbic wit. Self-expression on
paper seems to come very naturally to him also
But it is his sweetness and kindness to others that has
the power truly to take my breath away. I have seen him tenderly lead an
elderly man with dementia in the right direction. Or help a bewildered and
ailing man upstairs with his bag, who has been unceremoniously dumped at the
door of his home by an ambulance crew who should have known better. He does
these things easily and naturally, almost without thinking. Remarkable behaviour for a 12-year-old!
I can take very little of the credit for these
outstanding young people. For I truly believe that in the main children emerge
from the river of souls almost fully formed. As parents we do comparatively
little to shape them. If I am a good parent it is because I am a good gardener.
I have simply tried my best to provide good conditions for them to grow
in: good soil, enough water and plenty
of light. They have done most of the growing and developing all by themselves
I seem to have had the good fortune to bring forth two top
quality world citizens of tomorrow: for I am confident that the world will be a
better place with my children in it. They will make their contributions
sensibly, responsibly and intelligently. Exactly how they chose to do so will
be revealed in due course.
And as they continue to grow up I will have the pleasure
of witnessing it all unfolding. So
here's to their continuing journey and to the Spring that has just arrived!