Just Love

Erika Petrelli
Erika Petrelli

 

I’m sitting here at my computer, with my four-year old son Dylan sitting at the table across from me, on the other computer, playing Peppa Pig games. I’m supposed to be staring at my computer thinking about blog topics for the day, but instead I’m staring at him and thinking about how unbelievable he is. How smart (as he navigates the laptop like a professional, even with his tiny little fingers), how funny, how mischievous, how cunning, how playful, how joyful. I’m thinking about how full of life and love he is right now. And I’m thinking about the tremendous weight, as a parent, of helping him navigate through this complex and layered and wonderful and terrible and beautiful and disappointing thing called life.

I’m thinking about how to help him understand the significance and beauty in things like marriage equality, while also understanding things like the devastating and far-reaching cycle of racism. I’m thinking about how to keep him free from crippling fears terrorists would like to instill in him, fears that would prevent him from flying or visiting large cities or participating in events that draw big crowds, while also arming him with the tools to avoid getting himself in dangerous situations when possible. I’m thinking about how to help him be an active participant in saving the earth, saving the whales, saving the neighborhood, saving the bees, saving money, saving his sister from those that would try and hurt her, saving the third snack for later… I’m thinking about how to encourage him to run off and start a rock band or backpack in Australia while also trying to hold him close and plot a much more conventional path for him. I’m thinking about how to teach him about what’s most important in this world, and then realizing that there are so many things to choose from. I’m thinking about how I can embrace whatever he chooses to do in his career path (though admittedly I’m a bit concerned about his current declaration that he is going to be Spiderman when he grows up), whomever he embarks on romantic relationships with, wherever he chooses to call home, whatever cause he chooses to stand by... while also making sure that he, for lack of a better way to say it, uses his powers for good and not evil.

I’m thinking about how on earth any parent can successfully do any of these things. The world is vast, and there are so many things to understand. It’s confusing and complex, and it’s hard to know where to begin.

But you know what? Right now, he just wants me to play “Snorts and Crosses” with him. And that’s not complicated at all. That’s actually quite simple. So maybe I don’t have to figure it all out. Maybe instead I just have to love him. To show him that at this moment, here, he is safe and he is loved and there are awesome games on the computer. Maybe that is  enough.

How can you just love today?

Erika-Brand

Interested in having Erika’s blog come directly to your e-mail each Tuesday? Have comments to share?  E-mail her at erika@tlpnyc.com.   Find all her previous blog posts at www.tlpnyc.com/author/erika

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Erika Petrelli

By Erika Petrelli

Erika Petrelli is the Senior Vice President of Leadership Development (and self-declared Minister of Mischief) for The Leadership Program, a New York City-based organization. With a Masters degree in Secondary Education, Erika has been in the field of teaching and training for decades, and has been with The Leadership Program since 1999. There she has the opportunity to nurture the individual leadership spirit in both students and adults across the country, through training, coaching, keynotes, and writing. The legacy Erika strives daily to create is to be the runway upon which others take flight. If you enjoy these blogs, you should check out her interactive journal, On Wings & Whimsy: Finding the Extraordinary Within the Ordinary, now available for sale on Amazon. While her work takes her all around the country, Erika calls Indiana home.