ode to parents...

I had an interesting chat with a good friend of mine today (who also happens to be a mother of two young kids!) about guns. Yes! Guns! All boys seem to have an exceptional attraction to guns. Even Stella is no exception, having grown up with a boy, that is. And the video games... and the chats with friends... and the water pistols... and Nerf guns... and Star Wars... and Superheroes... IT SEEMS LIKE IT IS ALL ABOUT GUNS & SHOOTING! There is no getting away from it, if you are about to be a parent today and have your children communicate with other kids, live in the reality of today and learn to use the computer, the internet or even watch TV... you cannot avoid the issue of GUNS. Crazy. Is it not? I only wonder how to lessen the impact of glorification of the gun to my kids? How do I let them know that there are other ways, other avenues to take? What do I do to protect then as long as I can? What do I say, when my kid wants a gun for his birthday? How do we, as parents, influence them right so that they not only know the danger of guns, but learn to realize that all this glorification is just that - GLORIFICATION. We live in a complicated world. And I have a very hard task at hand!

And then, just as I was beginning to feel like I did not have the right tools, or know the right things to day... my grandfather saved the day. Don't get me wrong, he's been dead for years! I was lucky enough to know some of my great grandparents and live for a long part of my childhood with my grandfather & grandmother in close quarters in Latvia. But what I remember the most are the stories. And some of those stories are about guns. Yes. They lived through the war and had stories to tell. And these stories, even if they might not be correct to the finite detail in my memory, are still legitimate stories. And they are the best stories to tell!!!

I retold the story of my granddad in the war to Kaspar and Stella one day, while driving in the car... after Kaspar had once again attempted to shoot and aim at Stella with his little, cute index finger. Here is the story I told:

"You know, I used to have a grandpa, too. Just like you guys have a grandpa. But he lived in Latvia a long time ago. And a very long time ago there was a war and he had to be a soldier in the war. He did not want to be a soldier, because he did not want to shoot at people. He believed that shooting at people does not make the world a better place. That's called a pacifist! But he had to be in the war anyways. Because the Russian army told him he had to. And so he joined the Russian army and became a soldier. But he still refused to have a gun. And he refused to shoot people. So, the army got very upset and did not know what to do with him. Finally they said, that he could sign up for something that did not require to shoot people. But there were not may things to sign up for. But, because he was a very good mechanic, he decided to sign up to be the "mine sweeper". Do you know what a mine sweeper does? (We went into a detailed description of mine sweeping here...) But my grandfather chose this position, because he believed in NOT hurting others and in doing GOOD for people. So, he said a prayer every time he went out in the field, asking God to protect him from a mine that could blow up and just did his job. And years later he returned from the war to his family safe and protected, without a scratch on his body! It might be magic, but you never know... maybe his good intentions protected him from all the anger and war and fighting that was going on. He chose to do the right thing and in return he was OK... what do you think?"

Uh, there were some questions and some silence as well... but I felt like I had told then the story. Maybe they will remember it for a while, maybe they will not. I pray that they do. That's all I can do, is it not?

Thank GOD for grandparents! Thank God for all that I have been taught by them and by my great grandparents and my parents... and thanks to all MY FRIENDS who are parents for sharing and helping me through these trying years! It's hard to be a parent today! It is! Thank you all for being there for me!