Parents and other Saints

As many of you will know, we are not too sure about this parenting thing – we don’t know if having children (or adopting children, or any other form of building a family that involves children) is going to be in our future. Many of our friends, on the other hand, have taken the parental plunge in the past few years, and are bravely raising amazing young individuals from baby to toddler and beyond.

I’ve been thinking of parenthood, because I think that raising children is one of the bravest and scariest things you can do. I guess this week’s entry is an ode to the young parents in my life – you are all amazing and I am so proud of you.

I talked to Beek yesterday. Her 2nd child (just born last June) is going to have surgery on his skull this Wednesday. Naturally, she’s terrified. But in the meantime, she’s continuing to be a wonderful mother to her older boy – to try to think about his needs in the back and forth to the hospital and the general disruption of their lives. She is so philosophical – she has tried to be very intentional in her parenting, and to incorporate her ideals about how she should interact with the planet and people into raising her children, but is managing to give herself the grace to make the compromises necessary to get through the day during this crisis.

Meanwhile, Sen Smith and wife have just had kid #3 – their first girl. The Senator, who is definitely a guys guy, is nervous about having a daughter – he feels like he could relate to his boys, but isn’t sure how he’s going to relate to a girl, and is worried about a whole world of new problems. But I know he’ll be a great dad to his daughter, because he’s a great dad to his boys, and he’s going to love this little girl just as much. I am sure that when #1 was born, he was nervous about being a father at all . . . and he’s done great.

I used to go to weddings and think of how brave those people were – making the decision that they were going to spend the rest of their lives with one partner, and publicly committing to form a new family. Well, many of those people are growing those families, and I guess what is on my mind this week is that I am still so proud of them and all they’ve accomplished.