For the love of our children...

I wish I could prepare my children for every possible thing ("I wonder if they can hear the uncertainty in my voice?")...but that's unrealistic. So I, too, take them by their hand and teach them the best I can and say to be strong, and smart, and aware. Be aware of yourself and your feelings and the feelings of others. Be aware of the world around you. Be aware of how life flows sometimes in tiny rivulets and other times as a rushing tidal wave, but always with a rhythm. Be aware of social constructions and cultures and worldviews and your own biases and preconceived notions and how those fit into the world around you. Be aware of the duality (multiplicity!) of standards for rich and poor, white and black, liberal and conservative, old and young. Be aware.

I will teach you all I know and all I can. 

But it won't be enough. My heart feels heavy. Because I know I won't be able to teach you everything you need to know to avoid pain and suffering in this world. That you'll be stung, and tumbled and ragged at times in this life. But I take heart in knowing that you will become who you are destined to be in part because of those experiences with hurt and pain and with the things I am unable to teach you. And so I am buoyed, held afloat with hope and knowledge that what I can teach you WILL be enough. Enough for you to take your experiences and life lessons - mixed with some of my instruction and guidance - and blend them and knead them into a marvelous recipe that will be the perfect complement to life's cornucopia, the salve that soothes the sting, the well-designed plans for the battles that inevitably lie ahead.

I am so filled with joy and love and emotion just in knowing you. Thank you for letting me be your parent and teacher and confidente and trenchmate in life.

Love,
Your Papa, Jeremiah