Invest in Future Generations
Children are so full of energy, life, and potential. If you are looking for a worthwhile investment that pays great dividends and residual wealth, invest in children! Spend time with them! Teach them. Learn from them. Our lives are filled with deadlines, commitments, meetings, events, and a plethora of other demands that prevent us from spending time with the “wee ones”. But those wee ones are growing up and growing old and will soon have calendars packed with commitments of their own. Let’s stop this vicious cycle and invest in the future. Spend time with children. Reevaluate your calendar. Trim it. Cut it down. We need to rescue the upcoming generations from screen time! Read with them, play with them, draw with them, and talk with them. Our future depends on it.
My grandson Raine, the illustrator of The Mystery of the Irish Curse, has grown up in the blink of an eye! It seems like yesterday that he was three years old, smashing his little Woody toy up against the wall and dragging him through the house on a long rope. He did that so many times that poor little Woody’s head came right off! (I remember wondering what Raine would be when he grew up, hoping he wasn’t going to be violent.) Nope! He was just being a kid, and kids do crazy things! They need play time and adult time to help guide them throughout life. Raine went through a Lego stage for several years, building incredible things. He was a whiz kid! As each year passed by, he was always drawing in his sketchbook at family gatherings. He grew taller and stronger and before I knew it, he was towering over me with a deep voice saying, “Hi Mori.” When I look at him now, and the amazing artistic abilities that continue to get better and better, I marvel! Raine’s love of comic strips and years of practice have helped him to develop into an incredible artist. He’s been offered scholarships to several fine arts universities, and I look forward to teaming up with him on future books. As I stood beside him last night at the Irish Festival gathering at the Irish Pub, I was reminded of that little three year old boy dragging poor little Woody through the house on that long rope. Raine is no longer a little boy. He’s a young man, and I couldn’t be more proud! My little guy has turned out to be a handsome, gentle giant. And now I am the wee one!
Spend time with the children in your life. Children are worthy investments. Raine, along with each of my children and grandchildren, constantly remind me of how rich I am!