Late summer 2017 

Unbelievable and totally real times here on planet earth wouldn’t you say? 
I often write about music magic while touring and the richness of life on the farm in Hawaii. 
Here’s what strikes me again and again in the last months—parenting. 
I have the privilege of knowing a bunch of great young parents. 
Many of you have two babies often close in age. 
You are all sleepless and wondering how to hold onto what you thought was your path in life while navigating the unique mystery and miracle of birthing and growing up children. You switch from how tired you are to playing endless rounds with some game or toy and reading the same books every night until the babies fall asleep. 

Once they are older, you worry about school, will they be safe every time they go out the door, who their friends are and watching them grow and change in    sometimes baffling ways. 
Your difficulties are enormous and your love unstoppable. 
Some of you are artists wishing for any kind of space to dream up a new song or solve a riddle of words or images. 
You worry about money and try to keep a real relationship with your partner if you have one. 
Multiply that all around the world in all the refugee camps, city war zones, immigration struggles and racist terrors. 

I want to thank you, every one of you, for being parents. 
You are carrying the seeds of tomorrow. I cannot imagine how multifaceted, how joyous, how complicated, how much devotion. 
I am grateful to be in your presence, to spend time with the young ones whose minds are so transparent and brilliant. 

And all of you who have grown children and never lose the love or the desire to protect these adults from the madness of the world and all the heartache. I see it in you. It is your prime number always. 

It is for life. Sometimes you lose them in unimaginable ways. How is it possible to ever recover?  Recently a dear friend lost her only son in a car accident. Only months later she died in her sleep of a broken heart. 
That is how deep this parenting goes. 

Some of you are continuing your artistry with your children in tow. Wow! 
Some of you stop everything else while you grow them. 
However it works for you and them, I offer you a deep bow of gratitude and respect. 

We need you. We are blessed because you are parents. We are grateful you made that huge decision and took on a baby or three. 

On behalf of the planet, I thank you from my mothers’ heart. 

And to the children, how grateful we are for all of you agreeing to come to planet earth just about now. 
May you find joy, enough to eat, good friends, a family that stands by you, creative bliss and, against all odds, a world that thrives.. 

Blessings. Go stand in the eclipse and tell me how it feels. 

Stay brave. Keep loving. 

Rhiannon 
Hakalau, HI 
Living on the farm-Singing in the world 
www.rhiannonmusic.com