THE ONE CONSTANT

It is easy to become wrapped up in all the bad news the media wants to be sure we listen to or read. Most of us recognize that their purpose with all the competetion is aimed more at achieving their survival than our own. We are being pummeled with bad news from every source and about almost every topic.

To this old guy, sometimes it is overwhelming. But, as always, something good happens to bring about that homeostasis - the balance - we need to survive and grow.

Early this week my wife Phyl and I were listening to Tim, a proud father of two children - a boy and girl now 13 and 14. He was telling us that he will be 50 next year and had a delayed start in family planning.

Our friend spoke in great length about that feeling a father gets when presented with the opportunity to hold his first daughter or son. "It is incredible," he said. We nodded in agreement.

He noted that, maybe becoming a parent in his mid-thirties made him more aware of the huge responsibility that came with those tiny gifts.

"My first reaction, " - he continued -"was how fragile was this child I now held."

His statement reminded both of us of those tiny babies who had placed their faith in us. We have also seen this repeated in the care and devotion of the parents of our respective grandkids.

We were reminded of one of the primary premises of the book, "Embraced By The Light", which Phyl had insisted I read during those early days of pre-partner discovery and discussion.

In this unspoken moment we nodded again and looked at each other knowing the thoughts of our partner. We recalled, and later discussed, the philosophy of life expressed by the author Betty J. Eadie. Her conviction following two"after death" experiences was that pre-born children chose their parents.

Tim spoke of how gratified he and his wife were to have two teen age children: "they are different - in a good way - than many of their peers." And then he said something that struck both Phyl and myself instantly: "We respect our kids!"

He probably would have elaborated on the statement had we not interrupted him to applaud what he said and, to add our "two cents worth" of course.

We recognized immediately there was a cause and effect between the two statements Tim made about their kids..

Then, the other evening we were priviledged to meet "Wesley" a brand new baby girl and the newest member of the Butler family. Ron & Kim Butler are friends of ours who often invite us over to join them for holiday meals as part of their extended family. Their own kids are Andy, Adam, Arika, and Drew. This little baby was created courtesy of Stacie, their daughter-in-law and son Adam.

We all agree, Wesley is angelic and a great addition to her older brother Cody.

I was happy for no longer did I have to give a bifocal squint at the cameraphone pictures of her when she entered the world. There she was, right in front of us, framed in the massive hand of her father Adam.

This was Adam's first child and he just keeps looking - and looking - and looking at her.

Phyl went over to the table and chatted with them for a good while. I returned to the baseball game at the bar while admittedly thinking more about the baby than the outcome of the game.

This little gal has her life in front of her. She also has many relatives to help her on her journey. Both sets of grandparents are in awe of their first grandaughter. Her many relatives adore her; which is one heckuva good start in life.

Amongst all of this joy we swear we heard some faint mumblings from Uncle Andy and Aunt Arika about their desire to follow suit - maybe sooner than first planned. Perhaps, they realized how much the sight of this little delight could clear away the clouds and cobwebs of life.

One of Eadie's quotes in "Embraced By The Life", a book about dying and returning, is this:

"We are sent here to live life fully, to live it abundantly, to find joy in our own creations - - - to use our free will to expand and magnify our lives."

Those creations include babies -the true miracle in and of life -and the one constant.