Life in the Affirmative

It is ten o’clock here in Saratov, we are packed and are leaving this wonderful city along the Volga River tomorrow.   While the pictures that accompany this last posting are of the friends who welcomed us into their lives, the text of this post is an open letter to my wife.   The reason for this is simple; it is her willingness to live life in the affirmative that found us in Saratov.

Honey,

Most who read this letter will have heard me tell the story of how it took me about fifteen minutes to fall in love with you on our first date.  Our friends and relatives will have heard me talk about how cool I thought it was to finally meet a woman with such inner confidence and outer beauty.  What nobody knows, not even you until now, is just how badly I underestimated you on that first date, because I had no premonition on that night as to how much you would teach me about living life in the affirmative.  I am not sure where you developed your ability to live so boldly and confidently, but I am sure glad to share my life with you in the affirmative.

What is life in the affirmative? To me, it is the willingness to say “yes” to life’s opportunities and to ignore those that would see you not pursue a life of learning, experience, opportunity and adventure. And it is your willingness to answer both the personal “could I” and the plural “could we” in the affirmative that has always stuck out in mind as to what is the essence of the Karen I love.  Since the day I met you, I have been constantly impressed by your willingness to stare down your doubts, make the bold move and take on the big challenge with a confidence that can only come from one comfortable with living life in affirmative.

While I am impressed by this on a personal level, I am more thankful for the example that your life in the affirmative sets for our sons.  Every day, our sons see their mother head out the door and into a world of uncertainty with a clarity of vision about how to approach life.  In the evening, our sons see a confident woman come home from work to discuss with them the day's adventures and how to develop life strategies that will allow them to make choices in the affirmative.   Our sons may not always like some of the choices you are teaching them make, but they are each well on their way to becoming the “man amongst men” we always speak of due to the example you set for them each day.  As your husband and their father, there is no greater gift you can give me or our sons then to help guide them to their own lives in the affirmative.

Outside of this willingness to say “yes,”  I am not really sure if we could have agreed  to come to Saratov.  It would have been easier to say “No, thank you,” but we chose the affirmative answer and we are forever the better as a result.  We have met amazing people, learned about a new culture and, most importantly, taught our children that there is world beyond their front door that is both different and worth experiencing.  It was for these very types of experiences that we said yes to Saratov in the first place and I believe that there will be another Saratov like moment in the future.  I can tell you now that I am all for the next Saratov, because to not do so would mean not living life in affirmative and I would never deny you that essential part of your being.

Love,

Brian

Random Observation of the Week:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”  There are no finer words ever written in the secular world, Mr. Jefferson.  My family and I cannot wait to come back to the country, warts and all, these words gave birth to on July 4, 1776.