Dear Gavin, Claire, Ryan, Maggie and Maeve,

Dear Gavin, Claire, Ryan, Maggie and Maeve,

     Lie down in the grass and look up at the sky. That is all. Just that and no more sometimes. Get up and run. Run hard, feel your breath come in and out, each exhalation a blessing of life. Curl up on the couch and read with a blanket and a cup of tea. Make your world smaller by doing this when you need to. Make your world bigger too. When you feel alternately frightened and exhilarated, you might be on to something. Follow it and see where it leads you. Listen to other people, but then take the time to find out the you of you. I can’t even help you with that; you will have to figure that out for yourself. I am going to be wrong, too. I might be deadest against you doing something. Consider what I’ve said and then make your own decision, even if you’re afraid of making me mad. I will be here, no matter what, so don’t listen to me because you know the you of you better than I. Sometimes you will be wrong and regret that you didn’t follow someone’s advice. When that happens, remember that mistakes are absolutely necessary. They’re not even stumbling blocks, but risers on the way to wisdom and self awareness. Learn from them, take the time to own those mistakes, hold them in your hand and feel their weight, consider them from every angle and then drop them and walk away. Please look at people. Smile at them, their wrinkles, their frowns, the beauty each person holds somewhere inside. Don’t forget when you are at your busiest, your most self-absorbed that someone out there needs you, even if you don’t know their name. Don’t be afraid to share yourself. Hold onto the people around which you can be utterly, miserably and joyfully yourself. They are few and far between but hold tight with both hands to them and don’t let go. Try on new personality traits you admire, see if they work for you. They might not. In his infinite wisdom, God made not one of us alike. Find what it is that makes you unique and share that light with the world. Let other people shine too; hold back sometimes and realize it’s their day, their time, their story.  Listen to music, write it, play it, or sing it. You can’t always be the bandleader or the superstar but that’s a good thing. Learn to enjoy being in the audience of greatness as much as being greatness yourself. Remember that true love is not a roller coaster ride. Find someone whom you love so much that you can be at peace with them. Marry someone whom, when you fight, you know even in your anger that it’s pointless because at the end of the day, you will intertwine your feet under the covers. Beware any philosophy or worldview that assumes someone else is inherently wrong and you are inherently right. See the beauty in difference, appreciate Other. Respect diversity, go out and find it in the world and embrace it for yourself. Remember that how we pray, how we communicate, what we eat and how we dress are just trappings. We are all the same underneath, struggling to find ourselves in the world, struggling to find happiness within. Do not accept opinions as facts, or facts as facts. Life is relative and never, ever, under any circumstances black and white. There is always gray. It’s mostly gray; absolute truths are hard to find, but there are some. Find out what yours are. Let love be one.

I love you, my little children of the Light.

Mommy