On parenting - imparting roots and wings

Parenting: an obligation or joy? Depends on how we approach it. Here are some of my favorite quotes on parenting:

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"It’s not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself."

- Joyce Maynard

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"If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much."

- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

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"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.

- Hodding Carter

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Consider the magnitude of the last quote. Nurturing the growth of ROOTS and WINGS is a deep, spiritual, mental, physical process, and it takes blood, sweat, and tears to cultivate. But the rewards - ! If my children can be the people they are meant to be - with all the potential talents, dreams, visions realized - that is the idea of success. Not how much money they can make or how famous they become. I hope my children will turn to me some day and say, "You weren't the perfect mom, but you tried to be the best mom you could be. I learned from you."

Thank goodness I don't parent alone - Ron is the best sidekick I could have asked for.

Look what I found among the pointsettia - a Panda!

And Ron and his Mini-me:

(click on photos for larger images)

I love my family. So much.