"We Were Once Like
You..."
For our dear “kids”
We were once like you........ just as young and just as daring.
We were once sure our parents hadn’t a clue as to what we wanted or
what we were about.
We were once sure we could tackle the world.
We were once, down deep, scared to death to face that world.
We were once like you.
The only real difference between us as parents and as teens is a lot
of been there's and done that's. And, a lot of our done that's were
just as dumb and silly and dangerous and exciting as anything you’ve ever
done or will do.
That is why we worry.
We made it through.
We got older.
We fell in love.
We got married.
We had you.
That means. . .we sat up endless nights while you were a baby.
We changed you when you were wet.
We fed you when you were hungry.
We held you when you cried.
We fretted over you when you were sick.
We watched you take your first step.
We made stupid faces to see you laugh.
We listened to your first words. . .words like *mama and daddy and
I love you*.
We bragged about you at work.
We carried pictures of you in our wallets.
We felt your soft cheeks, and your little arms around us with those
first hugs.
We sent you off to your first day of school.
We kept your drawings and your school projects.
We watched you in your school activities, whether it was a play or
a game or an awards assembly. We clapped.
We cheered.
We were thrilled with your success.
We ached for you during your failures.
We felt for you if you weren’t popular.
We worried if you were popular.
We were concerned about your friends, hoping they were good friends.
We were angry when we shouldn’t have been.
We asked you questions we shouldn’t have.
We made mistakes and hurt your feelings.
We did not say I’m sorry and I love you often enough.
We argued with you.
We laughed with you.
We stayed awake at night and worried about you.
We watched you change before our eyes into young men and women.
We realized you were soon going to leave us.
We were scared and happy and sorry all at the same time.
We shed tears, both of joy and sorrow.
We want you to become whatever you aspire to be, whether it is a doctor
or a teacher, a librarian or a forest ranger, a merchant, a mechanic,
a veterinarian, a nurse. . . or if it is God’s Will, to love to preach
the gospel.
We want to talk to you about your life. . . how interesting or challenging
or rewarding your work is.
If you are facing difficult experiences we want to be there for you.
We want to pray for you.
We want you to meet the man or woman of your dreams.
We want you to fall in love and do the same wonderful and crazy things
we did.
We want you to get married.
We want to see you have children and watch all of this start all over
again.
We want to hear them say I love you, G’pa, G’ma, and feel their first
hugs.....
One thing we are afraid of is that sometimes those things that we worry
about happen. Sometimes, for apparently no rhyme or reason
you are taken from us by things beyond our control. Sometimes we
never get to see or do the things we have mentioned here because you are
not here anymore. . .and that is a hurt that can not be described.
So this message is for you, you young men and women.
It is the same thing that parents have said to their children forever.
It is the same thing that you will say to your children.
And they will feel the same way you do when you hear it from us.
Please. Be careful.
We love you.
You are gifts from God.
And stay True. |
