It’s my twins 6th birthday today.
I remember 6 years ago, I got up and went to work. We had just celebrated our oldest son’s second birthday with a dinner out with mom and dad the night before. It was hilarious watching that boy eat wiggly, jiggly flan as the waiters celebrated him.
At work, I prepped for the “I could be gone any day possibility and then went to a doctor’s appointment. I never left the hospital. My boys were 37.5 weeks. They were born on the day between their brothers birth and our anniversary. It was perfectly unplanned.
One of the best memories of that night the twins were born was the moment our oldest first saw them. I swear he thought they were his birthday presents! And what a perfect present for a quiet, thoughtful child – two wild, over the top extroverted brothers! These three have been the best of friends and mostly inseparable since that day. There are times when it feels like they couldn’t sit any closer to each other as they watch cartoons and relax each weekend. They also fight… a lot. But I think they will always have each other’s backs.
I’m thinking a lot this morning about who I want my boys to become when they grow…. and no, not about what I want them to do but who I want them to be.
I hope they are people who live their lives putting others first.
I hope they make friends with a wide range of people that can show them that the world is always bigger than our narrow perception of it.
I hope they become exactly who they were meant to be instead of what anyone else believes they should.
I hope they see failure as a necessary and important part of life and reflection and growth as just as necessary.
And I hope they always know that God loves them exactly as they are no matter what.
Oh and I do too.
Let’s be honest, I hope these same things for you and me as well. We can’t change the world if we don’t live into the person we were created to be and we can’t change the world if we don’t believe we are loved. When we full of love and shining our unique light, it can’t help but spread to those around us.
