I love this woman. She's a queen. A queen. Can you imagine actually being one of those? At her age? I first heard of her of course not through my extensive research on foreign affairs but because . . . she was on Oprah. I usually declare my Oprah watching proudly, but I actually do feel a little ashamed of this one. Anyway, as Oprah said during that interview, this woman is a quote a minute. She's so thoughtful and well-spoken. I just find her one of the most beautiful people in our world today, and I wanted to share her with you in case you neither keep up with foreign affairs OR watch Oprah. (Really? You don't watch Oprah? But she's the Aha Lady!)I saw this episode of Oprah once in 2006. I had never heard of the Queen of Jordan before, and I did not remember any of the rest of the transcript - about the fact that her husband likes bar-b-que or that she monitors her son's television -watching even though he'll be king one day. But I remembered this quote.
On Friday, my 6-year-old turns 7. I remember when he was 4, and I was diagnosed with cancer. I knew one thing for certain. If I die, I thought, there is no way he will remember me. I didn't blame him for it, but I knew it would be true. And it broke my heart. I felt so jealous of the rest of his world, the people who could stay in his life and whom he would know and remember. I bought his presents last night. I stared at them in the cart and felt sad. They cost enough, they came from my heart enough, but they looked so cheap compared to how I feel about him. Those gifts will thrill him right to his toes, though. And he'll have no idea when he opens the Play-Do that I am actually thinking of the Queen of Jordan and how she can afford to give her son-the-prince anything he wants, but she doesn't. She's trying to teach him to be a citizen of the whole wide world. They're intense - the desires we have for our children and the love we feel for them. They're like a 50-dollar Golden Collection Volume I of the best Looney Toons episodes ever. But translated to them, it's just a cool cartoon.
3 comments:
Ugh. I was fine til the last paragraph. Love can be excruciating, can't it? I don't want to be morbid because it's such a textbook surgery, but every time I get ready to go into the OR again to have these babies I write the boys letters in case something happens -- knowing full well that at this age they'd never remember me or understand fully the depth of my love for them.
Parenting has certainly changed my view of God's love for me. And that's a very good thing.
I love her too. She truly is amazing. Queen Noor, former queen of Jordan is pretty phenomenal as well.
We have been working on Jazz, to teach him things are just things, and it is people and relationships that matter. Most days, it doesn't feel like we are getting through.
I keep coming back here for posts exactly like this. That was beautifully written! And I think the queen of Jordan is pretty cool too.
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