The Mercury / Wednesday

Thank you, teachers, librarians, school counselors and sports coaches:

• You have given treasured memories to our children and to the parents when we ourselves were children. Your names come up at random times. We speak of what we learned from you. It was easy to believe you knew everything about everything and it was comforting and encouraging to believe someone did.

• You have corrected, cajoled, encouraged, and willed our successes. You believed in us when it was often very hard to believe in ourselves. And then, most of us did – at least at some point in this magnificent journey.

• You have created a warm welcome into a warm environment – a home-from-home – when at times home itself was neither warm nor welcoming. When parents were at war with each other your classroom was a haven of safety. You, yourself, were a safe place when it seemed there was none.

• You made transitions a part of life and then we discovered that they really are a part of life, right to the very end.

• You modeled good manners, you promoted the values of good, hard work; you imparted age old values in a world that seems bent on trying to escape them.

The Mercury / Tuesday

Do your young and older children a few favors*

• Get out of the way so your children can learn to forge their own paths.

• Resist the urge to speak for your children especially when others (teachers, coaches, other adults) are engaging them in conversations.

• Trust life itself to teach valuable lessons. You can probably reflect on your life and acknowledge that some of the most valuable lessons you have ever learned you learned on you own. You might agree that the best attempts of your parents to teach you these same lessons probably failed.

• You may have noticed parents who seem to be afraid of and even intimidated by their children. Combat this. It’s unhelpful and unnecessary in every direction. You are the parent your son or daughter needs. Backing off in fear or in hoping to remain popular (or for whatever odd reason) helps no one.

• Learn to hold your tongue. Not everything you think or feel has to be said. This is especially necessary when you are stressed by matters unrelated to your children.

• Speak your mind but give yourself room to think before you do. Blurt out good news but if you are sitting on a difficult or tough message allow yourself time (usually 24 hours) to offer your approach time to mellow.

• Show up for events, sports, shows, and presentations. Your support will be appreciated especially if you are well behaved. You may have noticed that some parents are not.

* As always I am my first reader.

Mercury Friday

Note to self:

Love and control cannot live in the same relationship…. it’s one or the other. You can’t have both. You don’t “allow” your spouse or your close friends more freedom, anymore than you “allow” wild birds to fly, or the seasons to change, or the morning to follow the night. Freedom is a divine gift. Caging, or restricting another, or manipulating another, (and often it is done in the name of love) is the very antithesis of love. It kills relationships. Sometimes the death is slow, sometimes it’s quick. But, it is never helpful.

Generosity, forgiveness, and hospitality, are among the most powerful gifts people can offer each other. Give freely and your heart will grow, your courage will multiply, your chances at true happiness will all-the-more likely become yours.

Chasing more education, committing time and energy to a small group of friends, finding a place to regularly serve and love others, will cumulatively, add greater meaning and happiness to your life, far more than any acquisition usually associated with happiness. It’s not in what you’ve got or what you have not got – it’s found in who you serve, who you love, and within the joy of constant discovery and learning.

********

Unrelated pic: this is from a year ago. I’ll be forever grateful to the pack of young men (these and several others) who immediately embraced Nate on our arrival in this new city. Thank you, Gentlemen:

The Mercury / Tuesday

May your heart be renewed and full of great expectations and may it be resilient enough to embrace those who are unfamiliar with a warm and indiscriminate welcome.

May you know and see and experience the goodness of which you are capable and have the courage to let it have its full way with you.

May you have childlike eyes and may they be filled with joy and wonder as you allow them to see familiar things in new ways.

May your thoughts dwell on the goodness around you and may you spread the goodness you enjoy and focus on your great and healthy future.

May your words be soft and sweet and encouraging, while, at the same time, you remain unafraid to speak your mind with courage and conviction.

May your hands be open to give and receive. May your the touch be gentle and comforting on the lonely and those who are afraid and may your touch bring comfort and healing and kindness and relief to those who most need it and who may least expect it.

May your friendships deepen and expand and may all malice and contempt from you, and for you, cease.