An ODE to the girl she was, an ODE to the young woman's she's become. I couldn't be more proud, and it's got nothing to do with her G.P.A. or the goals she might have scored. It's about the kind of person she's become.
An ODE is a tribute, a recognition, an homage. Our children are not photo-copies, they are whole new versions that bear an uncanny likeness, to a self, that even as adults, we hardly know.
I have, now, great hope for the future of this world because Zoë, and young people like her, are growing in numbers. She sees through unjaundiced eyes. There isn't a racist, homophobic, or judgmental bone in her body. She cares deeply about people and the environment. Her heart is large.
Adolescence is a difficult rite of passage that flashes by so fast you can hardly grasp it before it's gone. If you blink you miss it. Suddenly you find yourself sitting across the breakfast table from some young woman or young man, wondering who is this doppelganger, this person I made, so many yea...
