On my way to Heathrow Airport.
Heading back to Dubai with a full heart.
This weekend, I watched my daughter Jenna Lteif graduate with a Master’s in Social Sciences of the Internet from the University of Oxford. And somewhere between the applause and the quiet moments, 24 years came rushing back.
It feels like just yesterday she fit in the crook of my arm.
Then she was the curious little girl asking impossible questions.
Then the teenager challenging everything, including me.
And now, here she stands, grounded, brilliant, and ready for the world.
Not the child I raised.
But the woman she chose to become.
I felt proud of her.
But even more, I felt proud for her.
Proud of her courage.
Her resilience.
Her heart.
Her mind.
Grateful to have witnessed not just her accomplishments,
but her becoming.
As I sat in that hall, I quietly prayed:
May God watch over her.
May her steps be guided, not rushed.
May she protect her light, use it well, and never dim it for anyone.
And in that moment, I remembered words I first read at age nine. Words I only now fully understand:
“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.”
Khalil Gibran
We do not own them.
We do not shape them into replicas of ourselves.
We love them, teach them, release them,
and then we stand in awe as they become who they were always meant to be.👏🙏
