Dear Jeremy,
I'm in the process of working on our family photo book for the year 2011, and I just finished a page with the above images. I would entitle it "The Many Faces of Jeremy" because it totally shows what a character you are and how expressive you can be.
Sometimes when I'm putting baby lotion on your skin, I'll say, "Jeremy, what's beautiful?" and you'll enthusiastically reply, "Beautiful skin!" It's become a bit of a ritual, and a little fun thing that we do. You and your brother both have such gorgeous skin, and I hope you'll always embrace it as one of the many wonderful characteristics that God gave you when He made you.
Sadly, you may encounter people in the world who will try to tell you otherwise. One of the things that breaks my heart is the thought that you might (and probably will) encounter people with racial prejudices. They might say hurtful things or act in ways make you feel inferior, less than. I wish I could protect you from all harm, and I hope the world you are growing up in will be a kinder one than generations past.
My only advice to you is to disregard that negativity as much as you possibly can, and remember that you are exactly who God created you to be. You are "fearfully and wonderfully made"! (Psalm 139). I want you to know, also, that our little ritual isn't just my way of trying to build your self-esteem (although I hope it does!). It is the truth. You and Zachary both were born with the most beautiful skin--just look at the photos above...it is just radiant!!!
And what is most beautiful to me (even more than your gorgeous skin!) is your radiant spirit. May it always shine brightly! Thank you for lighting up my world!
Love,
Mama
9 comments:
I love this Tracy!! So well said. Our children really do have such beautiful brown skin. And if all goes according to our plan so will our grandchildren!
Beautiful. This made me teary.
Beautiful! And I love that smile!! Way to go Momma, to give him words that will help it never go away.
Your kids are so beautiful..
I hope they always know it!!
The true self-esteem builder is knowing that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" and the knowledge of how much God loves us! Your son's radiant spirit --and yes, it truly shines through in his photographs!-- must shine all the more brightly because of the love of his earthly parents as well. ♥
Seriously this child has YOUR face! I think this family was SO made in Heaven, no other explanation for how much he resembles your personality!!!
xoxoxo,
:) M
I've tagged you in a recent post! Come on over and check it out!
I worried about this a lot, and so far, it hasn't been. Yes, perhaps Maya has been mostly friends with multi-racial groups (in preschool she had one friend who wasn't multi-racial, and she was black), but having so many multi-racial kids in her cohort has meant a lot for her acceptance of herself. I worried about middle school and HS, but so far, she's in groups of truly accepting kids. I hear the term, 'post racial', and I think people mean that we are color blind. I don't think we'll ever get there, and I don't think we should. I prefer to hope that we'll get to a point where we ask each other about our cultures and celebrate them. Her group does this. I hope this bodes well for the future, and for your boys. Racism is really just about the ugliest thing on Earth. (and sexism...)
And I should mention that many of Maya's friends now are all white, or all black, or all asian, or whatever. It's a bigger school, so a much bigger sea of fishes, if you know what I mean.
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