Root to Bloom

A note to my son, Hawthorn, on his first birthday:

If there is one thing I can give you, it will be an abundance of love. With love, the darkness of fear diminishes, anything is possible, and you can overcome any challenges that life might throw your way.  You are magnificent, my angel, and from a foundation of love I know you can fly as high and wide as you dream.

And you have already given me so much, even at such a young age: lessons in patience, empathy, compassion; intense joy and a newfound sense of wonder; most of all an emergence of a new level of unconditional love, so soul-stretchingly profound that the heart is made tender at the fullness and depth of it. You have enriched my universe beyond measure, in a manner I never even imagined, my darling boy.

What a treasure you are! So precocious, thoughtful, tenacious, sensitive, expressive, strong, intrepid, peaceful, willful, fiery, fluid, and connected. You amaze me every day, and I delight in watching you bloom, learning who you are.

You are my precious son, I love you with all my heart, now and always.