5 Years

The twins turn 5 today.  It was an amazing day.  When I wasn't helping opening gifts from family or playing with the boys, I grabbed moments to think about the day they were brought into the world.  It was both terrifying and awesome.  They were so small I could carry each one in a forearm.  Now?  Not so much.  Now they make up super heroes, camp in the living room, ask complex philosophical problems and do geometry intuitively.  They can color inside the lines, and they can choose not to.  They solve problems using experience and knowledge of this world and fantasy.  There still is no barrier for them to move between the worlds, and the glimpses they've given me of their superpowers has been inspiring. 

Though my life is very different now than it was before children, I am a much better and stronger person than I was.  I know that is a cliche, but I've really grown in all of the cliched ways people talk about parenting.  Some debate whether humans should bring more humans into the world, and the arguments I see focus on two areas, quantity and quality.  For quantity, the argument is that the earth cannot sustain more people, and all of the issues that grow out of that, lack of resources, destroying the planet, space.  These may be true.  The quality arguments often surround many of the same issues, as well as the argument about bringing kids into a world that is going to hell in a hand-basket,  2012 by some accounts.  Few arguments I hear are about how children improve the lives of those already living especially family.  I'm not sure I would be as conscious or conscientious if it weren't for my having kids.  I am more observant of flowers and the change in leaves. I am more patient with children, the elderly, and those I used to have no patience for.  I am more willing to forgive those who wrong me, and I am more willing to ask forgiveness of those I've wronged, even when those I've wronged are only 5 and don't know I have wronged them.  They are the best gift a father could ask for, and it isn't even my birthday.  So today, I want to thank my twins for helping me become a better human.

Happy birthday boys.  I hope today was all you had hoped for, and that your future is as bright as your eyes.