"Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance." - Ruth E. Renkel


I am so proud of the young people in my family. We are luckier than most. We children have grown up to become free-spirited, intelligent, independent, kind, strong, and ABLE. We are travelers, adventurers, groundbreakers. We do not listen to the mass hysteria. We do not cower in corners. We stand in the middle, call out our names, and wait for the challenges of the world.

I'm feeling a little sentimental.

I just finished my weekly blog-reading (in which I go through my long list of family/friend blogs and make sure I am up-to-date with their goings ons) and the well of pride overflowed when I finished. Our parents did AMAZING jobs raising us. Since the first time they tentatively stepped onto western soil they have unerringly paved a bright and glorious road for us to play on. They left their HOMES- the places where they grew up, where their families are, where familiarity is, where they always say they will return- and they left it for us.

How do you say thank you for something like that? I will never know completely, but I think we're getting pretty close. Look how successful we've all become. And I don't mean monetarily... money is water that follows the wind. What I mean is as people. Lance- a first year college student- doesn't curse, despite the tendency for EVERYBODY IN AMERICA to do so because they think it is cool, and lives in the dorms even though his brother has an apartment so that he can 'know what it feels like to live by himself'. Angel plays soccer with pink braces and dresses like a ghostbuster, but has published a book and gotten her masters. Bim has gone to science conferences and looks up to women who take control as opposed to girls who make 'love scrapbooks.' Hazel got pregnant early, but she wasn't one of those girls who gives up her baby and quits her life. She just passed her exams to become a teacher and that baby that she had is one of the brightest in North Texas.

Do you see what I mean? There is COURAGE in my family. HONOR. You'll never see us on Jerry Springer, or the 9 o'clock breaking news. You'll see us on CNN, 20/20, and Time Magazine. And why? BECAUSE OF OUR PARENTS.

I just wanted to say Thank You. Thank you Mommy, Thank you Daddy. The children who died today in Florida will never get to know how lucky they are to have good parents- but I am.

I hope, one day, to be able to pay it all back.