You start small. And then you grow. You find your voice. And you share it to change the world.
My son was born six weeks early. Four and a half pounds. His sister arrived a minute later. Three and a quarter pounds. I've eaten burritos bigger than that.
They stayed in the NICU for four weeks. Learning to breathe, swallow, poop, suck.
They came home. We swaddled them in one blanket on the top tray of the Pack n Play. Fifteen pound limit. They had seven pounds to spare. Combined.
They learned to sit up, nap, smile, laugh, crawl, walk, talk, throw their food, throw their toys, love each other, not sh*t in their underwear, read, spell, divide fractions, write, think, be respectful, express themselves.
They recently graduated fifth grade. A drive by ceremony in the BART parking lot.
Sweet, all things considered. But definitely surreal.
As they grow, we instill in them a sense of justice, self-awareness, love, empathy, belonging, appreciation of others' lived realities.
So when they enter the grown up world of office politics and power dynamics and institutionalized White supremacy and systematized racism they are prepared to change that world.
Yes, they may have started out small. But they're big now.
And if I have anything to do with it, they're gonna be a huge part of the change that's coming.