Looking at the photo featured in the previous blog, the amount of possibility and potential pictured makes me pause. It is a before glimpse at a family and now, nearly 50 years later I see the after. Not all of those lives are finished, but the decisions or lack thereof, took each person in a direction that perhaps none of them foresaw.Derrol's mother recently retired. Several of those children are now grandparents. I wonder if any of them saw their dreams fulfilled.
Recently my brother sent me a photo of the newest member of his family. His youngest son's newborn daughter -- Jenna Grace. Looking upon her face, seeing the serenity, the peace, the perfection -- I pray that the world will be kind to her and her brothers and sisters. And when we look back at a family photo fifty years from now, their faces will continue to shine with promise, and will reflect lives well lived.
Parenting -- when done right -- is a thing of beauty. Sadly most of us have regrets, things we would do differently. Perhaps that is the hidden joy of grandchildren -- they give us a 'do over' chance to get that parenting thing right.
