Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Birthday Catch-up

With both of our mother's remarrying, we have had the blessing of not only two dad's but FOUR! In one months time between July 14 and August 14 they each had a birthday....Rob, Richard, Conrad, and Frank. We are truly lucky to have such wonderful men in our lives who have taught us by example, life lessons, and have shown so much love to us and our children.
The following poem is dedicated to them.
******
If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings-nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run-
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And-which is more-
you’ll be a Man, my son!
- Rudyard Kipling
******
Happy Birthday
to our DAD'S!!

2 comments:

dia said...

Oh! Sara,
You brought tears to my eyes, this poem has been glued to every one of my school books thru my life.
It was also hte poem I wrote on my son's 21st birthday card.
thank you for bringing back the memories.

Dad said...

Thank you honey- that is a beautiful dedication and means so much! Love you! Dad- Richard