The Newest Baby Dragon

Dear Andrew,

It will be many, many years before you read this, but I hope your Mom or Dad will read it to you at some point.  I wanted you to know that your birth was highly awaited from coast to coast!  This gift is something I specially picked out for you and I wanted to tell you why.

You were born in the Year of the Dragon, one of the twelve signs in the Chinese Zodiac.  Children born in the Year of the Dragon are considered to be born under the sign of luck and to be original, confident, enthusiastic and fearless in the face of a challenge (among other great and not-so-great things).   And, of the five universal elements in Chinese Astrology, you are tempered by the element of Water, and so am I.

These are two of the things we have in common.  Even though I am so much older than you are (that’s another thing we have in common—your Gramma—she and I have been the very best of friends since 1973!), I am a Water Dragon like you and 2012 is our year. 

I also happen to love art and so when I saw this, I immediately loved it for you.  It was a dragon.  It wasn’t too scary or too goofy.  It was a watercolor. Finally, most excitedly for me, it could be your first piece of art.  
However, there were downsides.

It wouldn’t be anything useful.  You couldn’t appreciate it for years. And—art is very subjective; maybe your parents wouldn’t like it, and worse, maybe you wouldn’t like it. 

Still it felt worth the risk.  If your parents didn’t like it they could stash it in a closet until you were older.  If you didn’t like it, well, let’s not go there.  But if you did like it—if it became an object you loved, then you would always have it with you through your life and then maybe one of your children would have it and so on and so on.

This brings us to another thing we have in common—your mom—your precious, terrific, beautiful and loving mom.  I love your dad but my special bond is with your mom because I was there the day she was born—it was a gift and a treasure for me and one of the most important days in my life.

So, on another special day in my life sometime in the future, we will see one another and you will share what you feel about this dragon, but whatever you feel, you can tell me because I'll want to know, and even if you don't keep the art, please keep the love this gift was meant to bestow—from one dragon to another.