Happy New Year
My phone recently made a short slideshow of random pictures from the past year. Certainly, there is a big cost for our technological lives, but I was so happy to rediscover these little moments. I realized that so much gets forgotten. Such is the nature of life, I guess.
Anyway I thought I'd take a moment to remember 2017.
I'm not happy that we've been protesting the state of our government, but I'm thankful that we still have the right to our raised voices, and I am committed to engaging my children in the work of building our complicated, complex democracy.
Darren is losing his baby fat, and I didn't even realize it until I saw these pictures. He remains irresistibly squeezable. I measure his growth by how much chaos he wreaks on the apartment, and so he has grown A LOT. He is, thus far, a man of few words, but that is changing every week as he practices language all the time. He can spin for laughs, and is always ready for a hug. He loves flipping through books and whatever it is his brother is doing. Every time you ask him where Mommy is, he points to himself. And I realize this is true, because we are pretty much never apart. He does NOT sleep through the night nor is weaned from the breast.
And here's that time I had a poem published and read to an audience for the first time.
My life is full and always in process. I know I will be wildly lucky, and still have moments of ingratitude for it all. I will find ways to summon grace for myself and others, and I will sometimes squander it. Maybe I'll commit myself to something approaching a livelihood, or a passion or profession. It's hard though. I find myself looking for signs, wanting a calling, to be called to something. Almost as if I can't just say for myself that I want this or I want to be that. I have to be greater than just myself. But as I tell Louie, whenever he complains that something is too much for him to do, all I have to do is start.
Anyway I thought I'd take a moment to remember 2017.
Louie started out 2017 writing with light, never losing his imagination. He made it through pre-K, a trip to Costa Rica, a gorgeous country with very few of his preferred foods, many protest marches, tee-ball season, summer camp at the YMCA, a trip to southern California and Disneyland, the growing breadth and scope of his little brother's grasps, countless subway rides, and the beginning of kindergarten and many new friendships. To say the very least, he is an utterly astounding child.
Our best family portraits of 2017
And here's that time I had a poem published and read to an audience for the first time.
And here is my helper getting me ready.
My life is full and always in process. I know I will be wildly lucky, and still have moments of ingratitude for it all. I will find ways to summon grace for myself and others, and I will sometimes squander it. Maybe I'll commit myself to something approaching a livelihood, or a passion or profession. It's hard though. I find myself looking for signs, wanting a calling, to be called to something. Almost as if I can't just say for myself that I want this or I want to be that. I have to be greater than just myself. But as I tell Louie, whenever he complains that something is too much for him to do, all I have to do is start.
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