Happy Birthday, Son!

Dear Xen, you’re five today. Five years old! You left for school this morning and I was reminded, without the prompting of sentiment, but by the eloquence of your words, and the agility of your thoughts, and the serenity of your actions at such a young age, of why I am so proud of you and the young person that you are becoming.

Every time a birthday passes I think back to how much has changed since you were born, and I look forward to how much will change in your lifetime, and hope I will be around long enough to give you the tools you need to navigate the world and grow into yourself. So, it seems apt that on the day that Guy Fawkes tried to spark a revolution in 1605, and on the day that Barack Obama won an election in 2008 to become the first black president of the United States, I share some of his words with you in the hope that when you’re ready to read them they might be useful:

Re-affirm that fundamental truth: Out of many we are one, that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism and doubt and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can.

Happy birthday, son. I love you.