{"id":5825,"date":"2016-12-14T21:43:23","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T02:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/?p=5825"},"modified":"2016-12-15T16:44:55","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T21:44:55","slug":"the-beginning-of-all-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.silkentent.com\/Trees\/?p=5825","title":{"rendered":"The Beginning of All Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"holidailies2016\"December 14, 2016
\nWednesday<\/strong><\/p>\n

A new baby is like the beginning of all things \u00e2\u20ac\u201d a dream of possibilities.<\/em>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201d Eda LeShan, 1922-2002
\nAmerican psychologist and writer<\/p>\n

In the 1980s I was a devotee of Eda LeShan’s work. She was a contributing editor to Parents<\/em> magazine and wrote a regular column for Woman’s Day<\/em>. I was in my mid-thirties then, in the early years of my marriage, a first-time mother, a stepmother, a full time teacher. I found her writing and her counsel to women like me to be sensible, practical, and reassuring. She encouraged allowing children to daydream, and she discouraged spanking them. She had a significant influence on my parenting and my teaching. She published her first book when she was in her 40s, and wrote and produced a play when she was in her 70s. She stopped writing for Woman’s Day<\/em> about the time I stopped buying it (because just how many recipes for weeknight chicken dinners that serve six do you need?), and I lost track of her. I thought of her just last week, however, and learned that I need to get a book she wrote in 1984, Grandparents: A Special Kind of Love.<\/em><\/p>\n

My grandson, Joseph Angelo April, pictured below, turns six months old today. Thank you for all the joy, all the hope, all the possibilities you have brought to our lives. I love you.<\/p>\n

\"joey6mos\"<\/span>
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