Happy Mother's Day

I wanted to post a Mother's Day message, but couldn't think of anything that didn't sound really corny. So, I looked through my library and found some thoughts from

Kahlil Gibran's THE PROPHET:

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.

And he said: 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.

Reading this, I was reminded of two things that I was once told. One, a metaphor that my father used a couple of times when we were having one of his long talks, that children are like kites, and that parents hold the string for a long time and then at some point, let them fly, with lots of tugs, reeling, and releasing along the way. Other words that stick with me are words my cousin, Julie shared with me recently, that the measure she uses for guiding her is her children. If your children would be proud of you today, you must be doing ok! That's a good compass I think!