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Big Occasions

Kyle Conway Me prior to my son.

This weekend my baby boy is being baptized. Due to the monumentality of this occasion, we are being visited by my wife’s family. The new grandparents and all six of her sisters are now with us for the occasion and we’re only missing her two brothers who have already started school on the opposite side of the country. My family will be arriving this weekend.

Perhaps one of the small joys of such “get togethers” is that both families are in one place at one time. The joy of seeing a grandmother hold her grandson for the first time, or a six-year-old aunt hold her newborn nephew. The joy of a new child is the endless potential that can be found in their eyes. Their futures are unwritten and therefore filled with posibilities.

The cycle of life is so apparent in these moments. Age is such a tricky thing. Time is even trickier. Eventually everyone dies but somehow, seeing my son interact with his grandparents, I realized that my life has been extended a great deal by his life. My son, who will have a personal relationship with me, will pick up some of my habits, some of my humor, and more than I will ever know beyond simple genetics. Some of me will live on in him as some of my father and mother live on in me (and by extension some of my grandparents as well).

This weekend my son will be welcomed into a larger faith community as well. What becomes clearer to me every day is the importance of belonging. My son belongs with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (at the moment 1) and also in the larger faith community he will be welcomed into this weekend. All week I’ve been telling him that there are lots of people coming to visit who love him. While I know that my son doesn’t understand (exactly) what I’m saying to him I know that he understands love. The families and communities who love and welcome him will help him become the person he will slowly (or, as I’m told, far too quickly) grow into.

Kyle & Son Me and my Son.

In one of these pictures I’m happier. Can you tell which one?