ARE ALL OF THESE MINE -- CHILDREN, I MEAN

L>R: Elizabeth,  Belle,
Jo-El,  Marc

The other night I got the surprise of my young life.  We were celebrating the birthday of Jo-El, the younger of our two sons.  He had invited some of his friends for the occasion.  I never expected what would happen to me as the young people began to file into the house.  I knew them all, but I hadn't seen some of them for quite a while.  What surprised me was the feeling of love and belonging that I was feeling as they arrived.  Some of them single and some of them with spouse or fiancee.  I was awash with these strange emotions in the presence of these fine folks.  They were there in front of me and I could also see their parents and their siblings.  I had the rush of so many experiences in the past.  I also had the feeling of gratitude that these children had given me something to love about life.  I never thought, in my entire existence that the friends of my children would mean so much to me.  Some of them, naturally are mutual friends of both boys, but it goes without saying that there is also another cadre of great guys and girls who gravitate more around the elder one.  I couldn't help but think of them as all of this was happening.  
I was floating around the party environment having fun with everybody and at the same time trying to understand if EFR Dion and MJT Dion had had the opportunity to experience the same feelings.   I have been thinking of the contributions that each one of them has made to my life and I have to say that it is rather impressive.  All I can do is to hope that all of you can have an experience or two like this.  It is really quite elating.  
Thanks for listening.