30 Days of Beauty-Day 1: A Parent's Pride

This is the season for graduations.  Facebook is filled with pictures of parents with their children in caps and gowns.  The mail brings invitations for Open Houses.  Our calendars fill up with celebratory events.  I like being a part of this season.  I particularly enjoy how the event is played out on Facebook.

My News Feed on Facebook is filled with graduation pictures.  The graduate is beaming with a sense of accomplishment.  They are often surrounded by friends.  In some pictures, they are ALL smiling.  In others, the friends are exhibiting their camaraderie by goofing off for the camera.  However, the pictures I enjoy most are those of the graduates with a parent.

There is a unique beauty that I see in the smiles of these parents.  They are so proud!  If you look closely, you can often see tears in their eyes.  I look at them and know too well what they are feeling.

We always congratulate the graduate.  After all, they have achieved a great milestone in their lives.  However, I always make sure that I congratulate the parent.  Parents have been the ones to fight over homework, provide encouragement, stay up until the wee hours of the morning making costumes/projects they just heard about that are due the next day, dried tears of frustration at assignments that were particularly challenging, and listened to endless tales of school, friends, and fears.  Parents have gone through a lot to get to this milestone.

This is also the time when parents begin to realize that their child is truly growing up.  Children will go away to school or begin a job or travel without them.  While being proud that their child has reached this point in life, the future is scary for a parent.  It starts to dawn on them that they are no longer the center of their child's world.  They have to trust that they have done a good job preparing this young adult for the world out there!

So, next time that you see a picture of a parent with their graduating child, look at the beauty of the moment reflected in their smiles.  Know that they are feeling tremendous joy and ever-present nostalgia for the time that has gone by.  Be sure to give them a hug and tell them what a great job they have done.  They've earned it.  Congratulations, Mom and Dad!

Have you found your joy today?

30 Days of Joy: Day 18-Children

Needless to say, I have been thinking about children a lot lately.  This probably comes as no surprise if you read my post on June 17.  On that day, my grandson was born, and I was spending my day with my granddaughter.  She and I had a lot of fun together: watching Elmo on Sesame Street, playing zoo animals, singing songs, dancing to music, reading books, and building block towers.  During our time together, I got a lot of cuddles and kisses.  She also learned how to drink out of a straw because she liked grandma's cup with straw so much.

I believe that children epitomize joy!  It starts with the tremendous joy that we feel when they are born.  I remember how happy I was when my boys were born, and the births of my grandchildren have been joyous occasions.  I have always felt that the birth of a baby is such a miraculous event.  Meeting my grandson was a wonderful experience Sunday evening!

While having children is a joy-filled experience, children have such genuine joy about life.  My granddaughter laughs very easily.  Everything is exciting, interesting, and new.  She wakes up each day with a smile on her face-ready for new things.  As I mentioned, this weekend she learned how to drink using a straw.  Her delight in her accomplishment was evident as she laughed and clapped after each sip.  Her joy is obvious, natural, and spontaneous.  As parents, we watch our children explore the world, accomplish new things, and grow into adults.  While labor intensive and fraught with turmoil, tears and anxiety, this process ultimately brings us tremendous joy.

I now have the pleasure of watching my grown son as a parent.  His joy at the birth of his son and reuniting with his daughter makes me very happy, and his love and care for his wife and children makes me very proud.  I think that he is a wonderful young man and am pleased that he has given his son his name, Andrew, as a middle name.  Naming your child is a decision that parents agonize over as they await the birth of their baby.  My son and his wife have known for some time now that they were going to give their son Andrew as a middle name.  However, they haven't been sure what the first name should be.  They have had a list of choices but decided to wait to meet him before making a final decision.

Tyler Andrew

After meeting their new son, they made a very courageous, inspiring decision to name him after my son's best friend, Tyler.  This was a difficult decision because this friend died in a car accident a little over a year ago.  I know that my son still feels great sadness at this loss.  However, Tyler was a wonderful young man who was giving, loyal, personable, talented, and loved by many.  I believe that it is a great gift to my grandson to give him this name.  He will now create a new identity for the name, and my son will smile as he watches his new Tyler grow to be a fine young man.  I am filled with joy at this choice, am proud of my son and his wife for the naming of my grandson, and look forward to many hours of joy with my grandchildren. 

Have you found your joy today?

(I was hoping to write this post last night before going to sleep, but I was exhausted; as a result, this post is a bit late.)