[To the reader: I wrote this “tribute” in December, 1999, and gave it to my children at Christmas of that year as a “stocking-stuffer”.  My children (a daughter and a son) were teenagers then and I’m pretty sure they would have preferred something more “cash-worthy” at that time.  Nevertheless, as a parent it was meaningful to me and heartfelt – and as the years have flown by the words have become even more meaningful to me … and I felt that perhaps some of you parents out there might enjoy taking a moment in time to read it.]

______________________________

IN TRIBUTE TO MY CHILD

There is a quiet, almost unspoken bond of devotion which a parent has for a child.  No one on earth knows the heart and soul of a child in the way a parent knows.

I adore my child.  And I remain just as adoring a parent as the day my child was born.  If truth be told, I am also in constant wonderment of my child as my child, day-by-day, grows older.  My child’s gentle spirit will remain strong; my child’s willingness to be caring is God-given; and my child’s creative and inquisitive personality is self-acquired.

Yet, as my child grows older, I can still search for and find in that face that same child which I have prayed for every day since my child’s moment of birth.  And I already miss my child … because just as a meandering stream carries a single leaf ever onward and away from its point of beginning, so does each passing day carry my child towards a life joined in spirit with, and yet separate from, mine.  Although I try to remember that we are all children, with some of us simply older than others, I also know that I shall be a parent forever, and my child shall always be my child.

I pray that my child always has a strong sense of home.  My child should always know and feel that the love of this parent is everlasting, timeless … and unconditional.

I write this in tribute to my child.

_________________________________