Intensely magnificent

The circle of life is an incredible phenomenon. I think J was 13 when he could outrun me. M is not yet 16 and she's now outrunning me as well. It's nature's way of letting us know that we've done well, raising kids who are now faster, stronger than us. 

Beyond having her as my regular running mate this year, I've also had the pleasure of chatting with M on our drives. I feel somehow we always end up discussing something profound. Something about the circumstances, her attentiveness, her interpretation of my ideas that allow us to conclude most conversation with a message of note. 

Just last weekend, we spoke about how all it took was '20 seconds of courage' for one to commit to a difficult even seemingly impossible task. But once the courageous decision has been taken, the journey has started and one has to finish it. M knows this well. As a toddler just 3 years old, she resolved to toddle her way back from her play school like her other schoolmates. One step out of the school, and her journey has started and one that is completed with determination, and I'd add magnificently so, especially with her studies and softball at both school and national levels no less!

Her brother is on his own journey as well. He has chosen intense paths, in scouting and now in the Singapore Armed Froces and one that is endorsed by no less than the powers of the land.

D and I do count our blessings that not only have our kids physically surpassed us, they have also been enabled, endowed and encouraged to exceed us as they do the right things. It's right, isn't it? That the apprentices should exceed their masters; most recently, it's obtaining excellent awards on their school Founders Day. In the end, it's all because these young ones of ours had the courage to start on a purposeful journey, however intense, and to finish it. And when done well, the outcome is, well, magnificent. The key though is always to have the courage to start and the determination to see it through.