The Party

Chris: ... but I'm gonna do a little reading, and the Almost Reverend Peter will be doing a speechy-type thing, since, since we're heathens but we recognize some people are not, we thought Peter could say something that might involve God. Doesn't have to, but might. Um, and then everyone else can do their wishes and then Jimmy do it last. So:

I'm gonna read from Ozzy Osbourne. No.

(laugh)

I was actually going to. But then Jim said, You know, it's a beautiful song, but try reading it out loud. And I read it out loud and realized it doesn't work when you speak it, so I'm not reading from Ozzy Osbourne.

Pete: Probably the part about the cutting off of people's heads -

Chris: Yeah, and you know, the demons and vultures just doesn't sound right if it's not set to, you know,

Karen: ... and the pigeon blood...

Chris: ... the really heavy bass.

Judith: Well if you'd told me we could've brought David and he could've played it for you.

Chris: Aah!

Jimena: Ah, no.

Chris: So this is a book called Einstein's Dreams, which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to just do some nice reading. Um, Einstein apparently came up with most of his theories doing thought experiments so, these are more like the thoughts that didn't make it into his head. The dreams he might have had that led to his thought experiments. So one of them is what I'm going to read, one of the dreams. I'd like everyone to listen to the thoughts behind it and not to the actual words 'cause if you think too much about it it doesn't make - it's not really appropriate, but just bear with me.

(Reading from Einstein's Dreams, by Alan Lightman)

There is aplace where time stands still. Raindrops hang motionless in air. Pendulums of clocks float mid-swing. Dogs raise their muzzles in silent howls. Pedestrians are frozen on the dusty streets, their legs cocked as if held by strings. The aromas of dates, mangoes, coriander, cumin are suspended in space.

As a traveler approaches this place from any direction, he moves more and more slowly. His heartbeats grow farther apart, his breathing slackens, his temperature drops, his thoughts diminish, until he reaches dead center and stops. For this is the center of time. From this place, time travels outward in concentric circles - at rest in the center, slowly picking up speed at greater diameters.

Who would make pilgrimage to the center of time? Parents with children.

And so, at the place where time stands still, one sees parents clutching their children, in a frozen embrace that will never let go. The beautiful young son with blue eyes and brown hair will never stop smiling the smile he smiles now, will never lose this soft pink glow on his cheeks, will never grow wrinkled or tired, will never get injured, will never unlearn what his parents have taught him, will never think thoughts that his parents don't know, will never know evil, will never tell his parents he does not love them, will never leave his room with the view, will never stop touching his parents as he does now.

Those not quite at dead center do indeed move, but at the pace of glaciers. A brush of hair might take a year, a kiss might take a thousand. While a smile is returned, seasons pass in the outer world. While a child is hugged, bridges rise. While a goodbye is said, cities crumble and are forgotten.

And for those who return to the outer world... Children grow rapidly, forget the centuries-long embrace from their parents, which to them lasted but seconds. Children become adults, live far from their parents, live in their own houses, learn ways of their own, suffer pain, and grow old. And these now old children also want to stop time, but at another time. They want to freeze their own children at the centre of time.

So my wish for Justin is this: that one day he will know the love and joy of holding his children that I know holding mine; that he will live each moment, and never need to stop time.

And I didn't cry.

(laugh)

Jimena: We've been crying a lot lately by the way.

Well, the Almost Reverend Pete?

Pete: I'm very glad to be here today, I'm very honoured to have been invited. I met Chris about nine years ago, before Jimena came along, and keep thinking that if she hadn't I might be married to a doctor now.

(laugh)

Of course, we'd have to live in some Scandinavian country, or Oregon, I don't know...

Judith: Oregon? You'd be dead!

Pete: But uh, anyway, Jimena asked me to sort of think of something to say, so I just uh, wrote down some thoughts, and then a prayer for Justin.

So to begin with just some thoughts, about - about children.

Whether black or white, whether from rich or poor, whether from individuals or couples of any kind, whether from accidents or ideas, children are from God.

We were all children once and in some ways, we always will be.

Children are blessings, responsibilities, and if you happen to have twins, you can get around the child labour laws if they appear in sitcoms.

(laughter)

Children enter the world and are perfect and sinless. Everyone living and everyone in history, no matter how positive or how negative their contributions to the world, was once a child, a perfect, sinless being.

And now just sort of a short prayer that I thought of for Justin.

May the mysterious power which surrounds us that is God bless Justin. Keep him safe, give him courage, health, prosperity, knowledge, love and happiness. May the spirit that gives us life help Justin to help others and to reach his full potential, whatever that may be.

Welcome to Earth, Justin.

Amen.

Everyone: Amen.

Jimena: OK, I'm gonna ask for Kleenex.

Jimena: Do we want to go around, orjust random order?

Chris Rouse: Actually, I have to open my card to get it, I drove down from out of town.

Jimena: Go ahead.

Chris Rouse: From Lois and Chris:

Welcome to the world, Justin Matthew Wolf Bordes, um - we didn't put it in the form of a wish, sorry - we hope the discoveries you make brighten your life.

Joe: That's a wish.

Jimena: Yeah, that's a wish.

Joe: Well, this is Uncle Joe speaking, so my wish for Justin would be that he uh, know no borders during the course of his life, except for those he makes for himself.

(pause)

Sherry: Oh, me?

Jimena: We're going around.

Sherry: My wish for Justin is that he is a wonderful son to his parents, and a friend and a playmate for Daniel and a great grandson for all the grandparents that are here today, and especially a wonderful nephew to Joe and I.

Guy: I want to wish Justin first of all health, and hope that all these wishes will be granted, and he's the one that's gonna change the world.

Julia: I wish um, Justin to open his brain to knowledge, his heart to people, and his soul to Nature.

Sherry: I like that one, give you a high five on that.

Rob: My wish for Justin is that he will always be able to show to other people the love and caring and openness that his parents show to him.

Judith: Me? My wish for Justin is an Irish blessing, and I found this and chose this because both from his mother and from his father he has a little dash of Irish. So:

May God be with you and bless you,
May you see your children's children,
May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings, and
May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.

Dan: Dan speaking, Dan Reilly, and I guess hopefully you'll know Stephan, he's only a little bit older than you. Uh, my hope is that you would always be a person who pursues truth and at the same time defends truth once you find it. Find a balance between defending what you know to be true, and always seeking to know more.

Jimena: Daniel? Ready to wish?

Daniel: I wish that Justin will be the most beautiful in our house.

Chris: In case anyone didn't hear that, that was "I wish that Justin will be the most beautiful in our house."

(unknown): Aww (laugh)

Julia: He made that up.

Chris: That was very good Daniel.

Beth?

Beth: I've been thinking so long and hard about a wish. And I guess my wish for Justin - no, not a guess. I know my wish for Justin is that he will always respect his mom.

(laugh)

Chris: Good!

Scott: He knows you're wishing that!

Beth: Not give her too much grief.

So there you go, Justin, always respect your mom.

Karen: My wish - actually, I have three wishes for Justin.

I wish him enthusiasm in all he does, compassion for others, and I wish that he will always know that though he is second eldest, he is not second best.

(unknown): Yeah.

Scott: I guess my wish for, for Justin is that he have an extremely long childhood, never rush to grow up, and enjoy all the adventures along the way.

Susan: And I, I wish Justin health and happiness and love. I hope that he has much wealth, not necessarily in money but in friends and family - and in those who care for him.

Todd: My wish is for Justin and Daniel both, and I hope that, I wish for them that they enjoy the beauty of Nature and discover the interconnectedness of all life.

Campbell: I wish for Justin just as he is now, that he continue to be blessed with lots of friends, to take ***

Jimena: Is that everyone?

Judith: No, Frank

Frank: My wish would be (ahem) that you love those who love you.

Jimena: Um, I, I thought for a long time and unfortunately I couldn't come up with anything more adequate -

Turtle: See dis cracker, see dis cracker!

Jimena: Thank you, Turtle - it's crackers! - I couldn't come up with a wish that I wished more than what Chris wished last time for Daniel. So sorry, I'm going to plagiarize. Um, above all else, that he be true to himself. Which as Chris said, at this stage basically translates to "be you own little guy".

OK.

Susan: I wish that Daniel and Turtle do not beat him up too many times.

(laughter)

Chris: Yes!

Rob: If they do, it won't be for long

Chris: Yeah, he's growing.

(unknown): In another month, he'll ***

Todd: Hey Turtle, do you have a wish for Justin?

Turtle: Merry Christmas, Justin!

(laugh)

Susan: Go, Turtle!

(unknown): All right!

Julia: What did she say?

(many people): Merry Christmas, Justin!

(laugh)

Todd: It's always Christmas for her

Guy: The guy stopped crying.

(laugh)

Jimena: I know you guys asked me to tell you five minutes before, but I couldn't get it together -

Judith: - in five minutes, there will be champagne!

Jimena: In five minutes, there will be champagne!

Chris: And there's lots of stuff!

(unknown): cakes, and, and -

Chris: stuff!

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Karen: So it's Aunty Karen reading wishes for Justin sent in by e-mail:

Sarah Rae says "Dear Justin,

I wish that you will be a child of the sunshine and bring happiness into the lives of everyone that you meet.

I wish that you will find all of your dreams and live a life with no regrets.

(these are the profound ones)" she says

"AND",

She wishes you, "that you will play hard, laugh lots, and get dirty!"

OK, so Lisa Dalrymple and Marc Laberge say "We wish him a lifetime full of love and wonderful people with which to share his dreams."

and Gilda Bellolio wishes you something in Spanish which I don't think I'm going to read. (pause) Uh, no, I'm not going to read that.

Darryl Pederson and Kerry-Lynn say "We do wish Justin and the rest of your lovely family a happy day and time for all. Kerry and I both hope that the day and friends bring you nothing but joy and happiness."

Soo Yee Wong says that "I wish Justin all the best, with lots of love, family, friends, happiness and success (whatever form he may want it to be in the future), of course :)."

Alison Young says, "My wish for Justin in any case would be for a lifetime of revelation, discovery and learning."

And Sarah Reiko May Shima, wishes "that Justin may always know the Earth as his mother, may always be able to turn to Her for support, and respect Her and love Her, whatever he does and wherever he is. May She return that love and respect to him, thricefold."

And your mom's going to read your aunt Gilda's uh -

Jimena: OK, Gilda Bellolio,"Te deseo Justin que siempre estés rodeado de mucho amor y comprensión para que seas una persona de buena voluntad que contribuya a mejorar estemundo." Basically means that "Justin, I hope that you are always surrounded by a lot of love and comprehension, uh, so that you become a person of good will who contributes to better this world."

Karen: Aww... Andy and Holly Gardiner "We do wish Justin health and happiness and the opportunity at some point in his life to go north and eat something that he killed with a motor vehicle--or at least a whole pile of fish!"

Mark Samborski and Carmen Lenauskas: "My first wish is that Justin never has to choose between devastating the future of the world or attending wonderful gatherings of friends to celebrate worthy future trusts. This leads to my second wish forJustin, may his friends be many, true to heart, honest, loyal and reflective (i.e.. tell him truthfully when he might need a good kick in the pants, like mine!) May he always understand that right and wrong is not so much a difference of being caught as something that grows inside himself. May he always retain his intelligent curiosity and understand why it's important and when. May he love, laugh, cry and rejoice freely without unnatural consequence and in good health. And not last nor least (for wishes like time mature with new permutations but always the same basic goodness) may he always listen to his wise Mommy and Daddy,... when they are wise. ;-)

(laugh)

Sasha and Rambo say "Wish that he always has a warm and welcoming lap for pussy cats."

and Angeliki, Nicholas and Alex: "We wish he will always be happy in his life, to find love and prosperity. We wish all of you to be together and love each other."

And there you go, Justin. Aren't you a lucky boy.

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Jimena: There you go.

OK, so this is Radu's wish:

Radu: Does he speak French? Not yet? OK.

Jimena: Go ahead!

Radu: Oh, it's on

Jimena: It's on!

Radu: All right, where's the little boy?

All right, come here: I wish that when you grow up you will be adequately well equipped so that no woman will ever look at you and say Oh my god! Ca c'est vraiment incroyable! and also that you have a tongue at least as adequate as Richard Dubois'

Jimena: Oh my god.

In attendance: (in order of appearance) Chris Rae, Peter Cory, Karen Huang, Judith Dutton, Jimena Bordes, Chris Rouse, Joe Rouse, Sherry Berg, Guy Timbers, Julia Neale, Rob Rae, Dan Reilly, Daniel Rae, Beth Avery, Scott Hutchens, Susan Ilkov-Moor, Todd Moor, Campbell Pearce, Frank Dutton, Turtle Moor, Radu Olansen and of course, Justin Bordes.

In absentia: Sarah Rae, Lisa Dalrymple and Marc Laberge, Gilda Bellolio, Darryl Pederson and Kerry-Lynn Larkin, Soo Yee Wong, Alison Young, Sarah Reiko May Shima, Andy and Holly Gardiner, Mark Samborski and Carmen Lenauskas, Sasha and Rambo, Angeliki Tombrou, Nicholas and Alex Bordes.