Happy Birthday - With Regret

This week has been a blur of constant activity, meetings, votes, policy development and speaking engagements. Early next week I head to the G8 advance meetings for child and maternal health in Halifax.  In all of this, one special occasion has kept popping into my mind through the hyper-activity: April 22, Earth Day, but more important the birthday of my twin daughters Abuk and Achan.Both were orphaned at four-months of age in Sudan and no one ever knew their exact birthdate. My wife and I opted for Earth Day, in part because of our environmental leanings, and also because we wanted the two of them to delve into their own commitments to the planet.I'll be phoning them in an hour, after they wake up, and telling them I'm sorry for not being their on their 10th birthday. They'll say it's okay and that they look forward to seeing the movie Oceans, which opens today, but I'll be troubled that I'm not there once again on the morning of another important milestone in the life of my children.  This is the lot of every MP, and it's a difficult one to bear. My three children never had a father, and now they have a part-time one. I struggle with the guilt of that every day. They understand and take it all in good spirit; it's me that suffers all the anxiety of being absent. Like other MPs, I know I'm undertaking needed work in one of the great advanced democracies in the world, yet every person reading this post will acknowledge the importance of family and being there for their kids.So, to Abuk and Achan, Happy Birthday, both of you. We'll jump on the trampoline this weekend, see the movie, go to church Sunday morning. But then there's that sense of encroaching sadness, when on Sunday afternoon it's back to the airport and another one of far too many goodbyes. It's hard for my own personal growth to feel complete without us all being together, but I'm comforted by the sheer abilities of your mother and your own dedicated Sudanese spirits. Love to both of you ... from a distance.Dad