A Valentine to my daughters

Happy Valentine’s day!

I returned from California last night after spending 5 lovely days with my daughters. We didn’t celebrate Valentine’s day, but being together, just the 3 of us felt like a festival of love to me.

My girls are all grown up

We don’t get to spend a lot of time together these days. Rachel lives in California and Gabi in New York. So time together feels like a gift. We stayed pretty close together in Rachel’s sweet little studio/mother-in-law apartment.

I know they noticed me staring at them sometimes, but I couldn’t help it. I’m so amazed and proud of the women they’ve become and are still becoming. It’s hard to describe the feeling I had. Kind of like time collapsing into that one moment. Some people say that when you die, your whole life flashed before you. This felt like their whole lives flashing before me–from before they were born to now and fading into the light of the future. But for now, I’m still here with them. What an honor to know these powerful, independent women and to have helped to launch them into the world.

Remembering those long nights when they were babies and none of us slept. And nights when I worried about them and I didn’t sleep whether they did or not. My guess is there may be a few more of those.

And now they have their own lives. We’re still close–in our hearts if not geographically, but I don’t know all their friends or how they spend their days. I remember their first days of school and how strange it felt to not know for the first time in their lives how they had spent those few hours away. Even then, I thought that it’s a good thing we build up our separation slowly.

I miss them both every day but am at peace knowing we’re all where we need to be–and I hope that someday we’ll get to spend more time together more often.

Poetry Friday and Valentine’s Day

Linda Baie at Teacher Dance hosts Poetry Friday this week. Check out her Valentine’s day post and find links to other poets posts–add your own to the linky list if you want! And here’s my last Valentine’s day post, if you want more Valentine’s.

Kahlil Gibran–on children

These thoughts reminded me of Kahlil Gibran’s poem, in part:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s long for itself.

They come through you but not from 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 can read the whole poem here.

 

Here’s my poem for Valentine’s day.

To my daughters

Years of doilies and glitter,

red construction paper and heart stickers

–glitter everywhere

and forever

Years of Valentine’s day teas

and treats

Have passed

Yet every day you–

Still my babies/girls

and now women, too

Fill my heart

The glitter still sparkles

in my being

in my eyes

in my love

for you.

Happy Valentine’s day!

Thanks for stopping by.

xoxo