The Circle of Life
We received two wonderful pictures this week.
One was a picture of our soon to arrive grandson who was letting us know quite bluntly and beautifully what he thought of the pushing and shaking to get his face visible for the 3-D ultrasound:
And the other was a picture of our 6 month old granddaughter who also let us know bluntly and beautifully how excited she is to now be living in Beaumont, Texas:
As we get older, it’s a wonderful blessing to watch our children have their own children, and then watch them as they experience the joy (and sometimes trauma) of parenting. There’s something very special about the phone calls or the emails or the web cam sessions or the visits where knowledge is transferred from those who have been through the pregnancies and early development years to those who are experiencing those things for the very first time. There’s also something very special about the watching and smiling and learning that occurs for those who have been there before that are now being reminded of those things that happen during pregnancies or early development years and must now learn how to engage and interact as grandparents rather than parents!
As I think about our expanding family, I can’t help but think of that wonderful song from the movie “Lion King”, Circle of Life. I also can’t help but think how obvious it is now that our job doesn’t end when our children leave the home. Instead, we are in a way revived in a new role with new responsibilities and with new meaning.
That in itself is part of the magnificent circle of life.