Faith

I'm not a spiritual person, most of the time. I have this vague idea that there might be something, somewhere, that neglects us most of the time. Faith, to me, is a belief in a person that he or she will keep their promises and achieve their goals, even if the situation doesn't seem that way. It's a certainty that a particular person will find a way to make it happen.

I feel this way about Barack Obama. I have faith that he can do what he wants to do, and what he promised to do, even when all of his critics begin to wax sarcastic that he will never be able to, based on his current actions. (By the way, regardless of the fact that I live in a very red state, I am very much blue.)

Back to the subject at hand: faith in a child.

There's a song my husband found for me, kind of a punk rock thing for Mother's Day. The line that always sticks out to me is, "She encourages me in whatever I do." It's an odd line in a punk song, of course, but it always makes me think of the perfect mother (or parent). I would like to think that if I did decide to try to be an acrobat, that my mother would do all she could to support me. She wouldn't, though. She would remind me how clumsy I am, and how dangerous that could be, and that really, I should just stick with my normal recreational activities, i.e., housewife stuff. She would mean well while saying it, though.

In my ideal future, I will have complete faith in my children. I know my daughter has artistic tendencies, and that she can rock those with abandon. But I tend to be too realistic when she starts telling me she'll be queen of the earth. Is that wrong? At what point is it no longer "explaining what is realistically possible" and when does it become "shooting down your child's dreams"? I'm sure that physical limitations are allowed, at least regarding actual physics. (My daughter likes to tell us what she used to do when she was older. It's hysterical.) What if I just don't want her to be disappointed when she isn't elected queen of the earth?

My husband and I have already discussed what we'll do if one of the kids is homosexual. I said, "nothing". Either one of the kids can be straight or gay - I want them both to be happy and not restrained. My husband agreed, but only after he hesitated. While I would like to think that my imagined reaction is what would happen, I can't really know. Maybe that's why my husband hesitated. No one knows definitely.

The end result of this is that I don't want to have a lack of faith in my children. I want to believe they can succeed at everything they try. Most of all, I don't want to be my mother to them. I suspect this is not the last of many traits that my mother lacks, and not the last that I wish to avoid. My mom has the best of intentions; if only she considered how her words would affect the recipient before she let fly. I can't say much on that topic; my mouth is continually moving.

My hope for my children is health and happiness. My hope for myself and my husband is to be included in their futures. Who knows how things will unfold?

I, for one, have faith that my kids will always know I love them.