For my children

There are a bunch of those poems out there for what a parent or grandparent wishes for the children in their lives. Some are cheesy, some funny, and some annoying. Here is my version, trying very hard to not plagiarise the ones that I remember.

* I wish for you to learn humility. If that means being made a fool of, or teased, or try and fail something you desperately want to succeed at, so be it.

*I wish for you to get told to get out of the house and are able to walk over to a friend's house to play. Safely.

*I wish for you to have your heart broken and your pride hurt. Because walking through these experiences will make you stronger.

*I wish for you to be gifted with empathy. To be able to see into the lives and pain of others and feel the power of that.

*I wish for you to mess up so bad that you come home at least once, knowing that you almost just got yourself killed. And that I don't have to hear the story (ies) until you are an adult.

*I wish for you to get into a fist fight defending something that you feel requires it, but hold tightly to the power of peaceful protest and the strength of your words.

*I wish you at least one person in your life who will not bullshit you. Ever.

*I wish for you to find a peace and harmony in this world that can be brought by believing in something greater than yourself. God, nature, whatever. Just have something.

*I wish for you to know your heritage. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the unspeakable.

*I wish for you to lose a beloved pet. And mourn. And understand what loss can truly mean.

*I wish for you to understand that your perfection is not sum total of your successes, but the culmination of every hurt, misstep, failure, fuck up, and heart ache that you will walk through, able to still lift your head high.

I wish for you to question authority and push the limits. Greatness has never been achieved without pushing the limits. "Well behaved women seldom make history". Live that.

*I wish for you to know that your parents will always love you. Always. Even the dark recesses of your mind where you will hold things that you feel you can never share with anyone. I am there. And I love you.

And above all, I hope that your dad and I can do our job of readying you to endure and make these challenges your bitch, so that they don't break you. Perhaps it's odd that I gift sorrow, pain, fear, humiliation, and heartache to those who I love the most. But nothing worth getting ever comes easy, or without a price.