And then the day came…when mom could find an hour to sit down at the computer to write!
I’m so happy to share with you that in the very first hour of this year, our daughter came into the world.
She’s amazing. Super snuggly. And radiant.
These have been very sweet weeks of learning about her and of experiencing new motherhood for the second time (it’s so very different, the second time).
I can tell you from the front lines of witnessing an early life: we are absolutely all miracles. Special reminder: you were a baby once, too. You are, therefore, definitely a miracle, too.
Today I want to write to you about something I’ve been thinking of in these weeks of nursing, rocking, walking. It’s a contrast I keep reflecting on as I watch my newborn daughter and my young son.
Being around a baby makes it so damn obvious that every human life is precious. This amazing thing happens – we grow in a womb and come out and keep growing. And we are adorable and gorgeous and have bodies that know just how to grow…
But as a collective, we do not treat each human life as if it is precious. We especially haven’t been treating each other that way lately, in our most public spheres in American life.
And watching my son and daughter, it’s so obvious that we start out utterly innocent, good-hearted – only wanting to connect, to love, to hold and be held, to get our needs met. And yet, right now our public rhetoric seems to have forgotten this basic innocent goodness of human beings and our most core instinct to care for one another.
My son and daughter – and all children – make it clear: We start as love. If we are met with love, we continue to be and give and extend love.
You and I can not know all the pain, the indoctrination, the hurt that happened along the way to harden the hearts of those we now see spreading hate, violence, and fear. But we can be the mothers and grandmothers and warrior guardians of the collective and say, “No, no. Not this. Not here. Not on our watch.”
We can take the simplest and most important stand there is … a stand that manifests in myriad ways across different issues and different moments, from the most personal to the political. The stand that every human being is a child of the divine. The stand that kindness matters. The stand that we must take responsibility for the harm we do to others, and make amends. The stand that we are sisters and brothers with all human beings. Let’s take that stand in every way we can.
With love, from the terrain of new motherhood –
Tara
photo credit: Jenna Norman
