What We Hope To Give

In our living room is a Christmas tree. It is up year round because it makes us happy, and the twinkling white lights are soothing and calm. On the tree is a small silver ornament that looks almost like a matchbox and in that ornament is a piece of paper torn from a Bob Evans placemat...and on this piece of paper is what we hope we will be able to teach Josh. We wrote this list as our first official act of parenthood...we didn't know what else to do, and when our "last meal" was over, we would get into the car, and drive to the hospital, and take our newborn son home for the first time. We gave it much thought, and figured that putting our hopes for him down on paper couldn't hurt...My grandfather, a lifetime manager/goal-setter, always said that the best way of reminding yourself of the goals you wanted to accomplish was to write them down on a piece of paper and place it in your wallet, so that you could see it everytime you opened your wallet-- and that you would find yourself working towards those goals subconsciously...and in part, that is why I am now placing them on this blog. These are the gifts we hope to be able to give our son...or the things we hope for him to have or find on his own. The following is list we created on the day we brought him home, in the order that we thought of them.


Josh. Started 12-15-06. "Our Wishlist for Squid Baby"

cultured, open-minded, and well-educated; well-behaved and respectful of others and their feelings; well-adjusted; well-spoken; really intelligent; healthy and strong; ***knowledge that disappointment, sadness, and obstacles are not permanent; ***understanding that even the scariest times will pass; ability to draw strength from within himself or from others when it's needed most; ambitious; atheletic; ***must believe in himself; ***very capable; good-natured; good-humored; ***a wonderful laugh; playful; ***tremendous love of life and all of its possibilities; loving; ***Jon's charm & common sense; character; compassion; warmth; the best of both of us; love of all happy things; joy in simple pleasures; honesty; faithfulness; strong beliefs and the ability to stand up for them; loving, supportive family and friends; the ability to know he can rely on others; the ability to forgive...especially the ability to forgive himself and learn from his mistakes; and most importantly, a vast ability to love unselfishly and to be kind


Such an awful lot of hopes to pin on one little person...I hope his shoulders can bear the weight.