My father was sixty years old when he changed churches. Shortly after this his new church was discussing whether or not they would perform same sex marriage ceremonies. My dad arrived with his argument in hand. “Marriage is a sacrament.”

“Not in this church Rick.”

About a week later, during Sunday service, the entire sermon was on why they would indeed welcome all marriage into the church. My dad came home and called me in tears (a rare thing for my pops) and said “It’s about love Shannon, how could I have ever been against anything that was about love.”

This is one of my favorite stories about my dad. People who know me have heard this story likely more than once. Because it gives me hope. That folks who are stuck in one place of their understanding can shift to seeing that all we are talking about is people loving each other. And honestly, looking around the world right now, it’s clear we need a whole LOT more love.

And that is why I write here. I write to inspire folks to love their children, even more, without conditions, or punishments or anything that doesn’t feel like love. Because I believe in the deepest places of who I am, that love matters most. That loving our children from a place of respect, raises allies for all the other human beings they will bump into in life.

That loving our children just as they are gives them the gift of an open heart that will be kind and accepting as they step out into the world away from us.  That it will build a large foundation of courage and belonging that will allow each and every child to be confident in the person they are, all the pieces of who they are. So they will know, long before they are sixty, that really it’s all about LOVE.