Just after midnight this morning, about a million miles away from here, our family welcomed another blessing to the world. He is huge and hungry and adorable and he will be loved. (Oh, how he will be loved!)
He will probably also be knocked about by his brothers and cousins, and will learn to swim and fish in the ocean. He’ll climb trees and pat doggies and sing his ABC’s and learn to speak Spanish. If his biggest brother is any indication of how he’ll turn out, he’ll be smart and kind and polite and curious and a bit of an invincible daredevil, just the way his next-biggest-brother is learning to be.
I hope he is happy. I hope he is confident. I hope he finds passion and joy in the life that stretches out before him, so full of promise and lessons and heartbreak and wonder. I hope he knows and feels and shows love in all its forms from the beginning of his life to the very, very end.
I hope he is attentive and conscientious and careful with the feelings of others. I hope he respects and revels in the bounty of the natural world, and I hope he embraces the diversity of humanity. I hope he grows up to be a man of integrity — a man worthy of admiration — and I hope he leaves a beneficial imprint on the world, in whatever big or small way he can.
No pressure, little buddy. We’ll love you anyway.
Welcome to the world, Samuel! We can’t wait to see who you are.
A huge, huge congratulations to my “little” brother Jesse and his tenacious wife, Lenore. Thank you for the beautiful gift.
