Polar Opposites

Thankfulness month continues.

Today, I am thankful for the Offspring. 

I have sometimes joked that if one could have three polar opposites, that would describe the Offspring, for they have such divergent temperaments. Their likes and dislikes; their needs and wants; their reactions to difficulties and to joys -- all so very different. 

Nevertheless, they each have an abundance of kindness and tender-heartedness.  They care for their friends.  They are helpful. They are clever, and their respective unique wits are marvelous to behold. 

One of my favorite set of photographs of them is contained in a three-window frame with a different word underneath each window:  SPIRIT  -- WISDOM -- LIGHT.  Each child could easily be shown above any of the three words.  The way it is arranged at the moment, though, it shows: 

• Offspring the Third as a toddler, with four pacifiers jokingly and gleefully stuck in his mouth at the same time, over the word SPIRIT; 
• Offspring the Second as a youngster, full of millions of facts that he delightedly shares, with his quiet smile and thinking eyes, over WISDOM; and 
• Offspring the First as a grade-schooler, with her kind and abundantly cheerful smile that radiates throughout the room and warms the hearts of all she meets, over LIGHT.  

They are truly lovely people. They have motivated me to become a better person, and I'm grateful every day for them.