Life as a Series of Rebirths

Published on March 11, 2006 By JillUser In Philosophy

I remeber once when I was looking at a photo album with my mom when I was about 12yrs old, she said "I sure miss that little cutie pie", referring to a picture of me when I was a toddler. I was puzzled at the time because I was sitting right there. She explained that life is a progression where the infant becomes the toddler, the toddler becomes a preschooler, then elementary school age, teen years, young adults, middle age and elderly. She had already lost the infant, toddler, preschooler and was about to lose the elementary schooler.

I totally get it now and have experienced it with my own kids. My first bundle of joy is now 9yrs old. That little infant is long gone. I get glimpses of him every once in a while but the chubby little feet are no longer there. The toothless smile was lost long ago. That baby was reborn, and reborn and reborn again.

I look back at the baby pictures with joy but also a little sorrow. They will never be like that again. It is just like death and rebirth as something new. The infant is a different creature than the toddler, and the toddler is different from the potty trained, vocabulary endowed preschooler. And noone can deny that teens are a far different creature than anything else

We are obviously the same person as we were at birth but we are different forms of that person along the way. Someone who knew everything about you as a preschooler might not recognize or know you at all as a teen. I find it a joyful, sad, exciting process.

Comments

Trudygolightly

on Mar 12, 2006

Jill, my mother wrote this piece and dedicated it to me, I share it with you now because you're understanding the cycle..

"It is a most beautiful day here, warm golden sunlight, bluejays cutting a flash of blue throu the sunshine, almost as brilliant as a sudden flash of lightening on a summer day. The rock wall up on Spring St. hill is dappled with sun and shadows, flickering and moving as tho alive. The boughs on the pine trees barely move in the breeze: almost as tho they were too lazy, and sated with summer to do more. Even the dog has collapsed into a semi-conscious state." "Tis a time for remembering, and dreaming. Ah, yes, I do remember, the patter of little feet, they trip across my heartstrings, and echo it's every beat. I remember too, a baby voice, lisping a nursery rhyme, and my heart goes back, and ever back, down the endless halls of time." "If one wish could be granted, thru all eternity, twould be to take my memories, across the line with me."

November 2nd, 1965~ by my mom "Dee"

KarmaGirl

on Mar 13, 2006

Trudy, that is such a nice poem!

I think all of life is filled with rebirths. I am a very different person today than I was 10 years ago, and so is everyone in my life.

I think that being able to acknowledge those changes in your children and loved ones is what keeps you close. A lot of marriages and families break apart when a person won't acknowledge the change in other people.

I've never been sad at the changes in my daughter or with "losing" the younger version of her. Instead, I love to watch her grow and mature and look forward to seeing the individual that she becomes.

JillUser

on Mar 13, 2006

Thanks Trudy. That is very beautiful.

A lot of marriages and families break apart when a person won't acknowledge the change in other people.

Or they change at much different rates. I think that is when people "grow apart".

Trudygolightly

on Mar 14, 2006

Yes, recognizing those changes, growing with them, and loving them even more is the ticket to making it work. I understand Jill's statement about "people growing apart"
because some people in a relationship become insecure or upset when changes are happening.

I'm glad you both liked my mom's thoughts on that November day, looking back, she wrote that after I had started work at the hospital ( following graduation) and had sent her a carful of flowers.

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