Fireflies

This year's blog post is a little late.  It has been busy between teaching, counseling, and family.  You have been growing up so fast that it is hard to believe that you are the same little person that we brought home four years ago.  Fireflies is the song that most reminds me of you this year, for a wide variety of reasons.

As you get older, the wonders of the world stop being wonderful.  Even fireflies, which are amazing, are not magical any longer for most grown ups.  They are just bugs that use bio luminescence to attract mates and prey.  The more we learn the less we wonder, and you must never let those wonders escape.  It's always a parent's struggle what to reveal and when-- the truth about glowing bugs, the truth about magic, or the truth about Santa Claus.  Especially when the truth is that none of our brains can actually comprehend the smallest fraction of the totality of existence.  We all color reality with our perceptions, and just how much of that shading we want to pass on to your unique perspective on reality is a difficult question to answer, though I will try to do that in some measure here.

My opinion is that we need to teach you enough to survive in the world, but that we must also temper this by trying to preserve the magic that adults lose sight of as much as possible.  We need to remember that no matter how much we want to slow the world, that it will keep turning.  You will grow up, no matter how much we would like it to slow down.  The world will wait for no person-- no matter how special.  We need to help you to both understand and believe, things that are sometimes antithetical.

My wish for you this birthday is that you manage to hang onto the best aspects of your childhood well into adulthood.  That you can still feel that sense of magic and wonder, when it is appropriate.  That your education does not dull your view of the world, and that some portion of the four year old that lives for hugs and snuggles will remain in you always-- even as you grow up and pursue your dream of making robots, or anything that you change your mind to do on some day after today.  The world is full of endless possibilities for you, if you believe that it is so.

If you do maintain your desire to build robots, and turn a dream into a goal, I will someday educate you about terminators and Skynet.  Humility and forethought in the pursuit of magic and knowledge is also important.  Not today though.  For today, I hope you are able to one day make your robots, and that they are kind and wonderful.