Today my granddaughter Daisy officially becomes an adult.
Daisy is the eldest of my five granddaughters, the miraculous series of gifts with which my life has been so blessed. Her dad is my eldest son Dominic, a successful wedding photographer. (Know anyone getting married? Check out www.dominicwhiten.co.uk)
Dominic took this lovely picture of Daisy last year. This is a photo of a photo so it's a bit fuzzy (sorry Dom) but you can see something of her essence and of the love and humour that they share.
Daisy is a London girl with a talent for writing and keeps a highly entertaining blog called Confessions of a London Teenager. She says I inspired her to keep a blog and then, truth be told, she inspired me to start this one. Proof of what goes around and all that.
Anyway, a few weeks ago Daisy wrote a post about her forthcoming birthday, thus:
It's my eighteenth in a month and a bit and I'm in the midst of questions from parents and family on gift preferences (it's a hard life). Naturally, I compiled a list of the usual suspects: perfume, jewellery etc... but then, just on the off-chance that my parents suddenly win the lottery or become heirs to a long-lost late relative's wealthy estate, I added a few items that wouldn't go amiss should their funds allow it. This includes...
A Chanel 2.55 bag, Ella Henderson's voice, the entire Jil Sander A/W 2012 collection, Jessica Ennis' abs, a gold encrusted Gibson J-200 and a lifetime pass to Brixton Academy.
I also suggested that it would be preferred for Harry Styles to present all these gifts to me (they might need to get Tom Daley as well because there's a lot of stuff there to carry, especially for just one person).
I'm not asking for too much, am I?
Remembering this gem, I went shopping in Chania for one of her presents and browsed the Street of Leather Goods. Very soon a nice little black handbag looking remarkably similar to a Chanel 2.55 and costing remarkably less than the £3,000 or so of the original was in the post to Daisy. Chuffed? Echoing the spirit in which it was sent, she laughed out loud and declared it officially top of her list of 'novelty presents'. I always said she would run the United Nations one day with her diplomatic skills....
On a more philosophical note, whilst reflecting on the nature of time, life and the generations, I thought of Kahlil Gibran's famous words that I discovered when I was 18 and already a mother. I tried to remember them at all times as my sons were growing up and they seem even more poignant as my granddaughters start to reach adulthood.
Daisy is the eldest of my five granddaughters, the miraculous series of gifts with which my life has been so blessed. Her dad is my eldest son Dominic, a successful wedding photographer. (Know anyone getting married? Check out www.dominicwhiten.co.uk)
Dominic took this lovely picture of Daisy last year. This is a photo of a photo so it's a bit fuzzy (sorry Dom) but you can see something of her essence and of the love and humour that they share.
Daisy is a London girl with a talent for writing and keeps a highly entertaining blog called Confessions of a London Teenager. She says I inspired her to keep a blog and then, truth be told, she inspired me to start this one. Proof of what goes around and all that.
Anyway, a few weeks ago Daisy wrote a post about her forthcoming birthday, thus:
It's my eighteenth in a month and a bit and I'm in the midst of questions from parents and family on gift preferences (it's a hard life). Naturally, I compiled a list of the usual suspects: perfume, jewellery etc... but then, just on the off-chance that my parents suddenly win the lottery or become heirs to a long-lost late relative's wealthy estate, I added a few items that wouldn't go amiss should their funds allow it. This includes...
A Chanel 2.55 bag, Ella Henderson's voice, the entire Jil Sander A/W 2012 collection, Jessica Ennis' abs, a gold encrusted Gibson J-200 and a lifetime pass to Brixton Academy.
I also suggested that it would be preferred for Harry Styles to present all these gifts to me (they might need to get Tom Daley as well because there's a lot of stuff there to carry, especially for just one person).
I'm not asking for too much, am I?
Remembering this gem, I went shopping in Chania for one of her presents and browsed the Street of Leather Goods. Very soon a nice little black handbag looking remarkably similar to a Chanel 2.55 and costing remarkably less than the £3,000 or so of the original was in the post to Daisy. Chuffed? Echoing the spirit in which it was sent, she laughed out loud and declared it officially top of her list of 'novelty presents'. I always said she would run the United Nations one day with her diplomatic skills....
On a more philosophical note, whilst reflecting on the nature of time, life and the generations, I thought of Kahlil Gibran's famous words that I discovered when I was 18 and already a mother. I tried to remember them at all times as my sons were growing up and they seem even more poignant as my granddaughters start to reach adulthood.
Your
children are not your children.
They
are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself…
You
may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For
they have their own thoughts.
You
may house their bodies but not their souls,
For
their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit even in your
dreams.
You
may strive to be like them but seek not to make them like you.
For
life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You
are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
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