We had a baby at the end of December.  And she is the best.

Hot damn I love this kid.  It’s Valentine’s Day, so let me express my love.  It’s been almost two months and we are ridiculously happy with our little pumpkinseed.  Life is very different in its surface details.  We spend most of our time caring for a tiny human instead of building a tiny house.  A good day is one in which I get the dishes done and a load of laundry.  Our budget for sundries has gone up as we purchase disposable diapers (until we get a sink in, I keep telling myself) and one-handed snacks.

Still, Seth and I are both us, but more so.  I like to think we’re distilling ourselves down to the best parts, giving up bad habits in hopes that we don’t pass them along, while also focusing our limited free time on only the activities most important to us, because there’s just no head space anymore for binge-watching Bones and reading 14 blogs a day.  That distillation might be wishful thinking though.  Or maybe it’s the sleep deprivation talking.

At any rate, today is a day dedicated to expressing love.  I love my daughter.  I also love you, reader, even if I don’t know you.  Our new political administration is trying to place the blame for our problems on immigrants, and Nasty Women and disabled folks and those of us with little money too.  Such divisive tactics coming from the top!  We don’t believe in them for a second.  We all deserve food, shelter, healthcare, and happiness.  I’m not saying that because I’m a bleeding heart pinko commie hippie environmentalist (although that’s mostly true), I’m saying it because if I think of you as family, how can I wish anything bad for you?

“Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.”

J.K. Rowling wrote a book series where love conquered all.  Numerous heroes of our time have practiced it: Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Princess Leia. Well maybe not that last one.  But I’d like to practice love too.  Joining the #LoveArmy, reading The Dandelion Insurrection.  Loving our tiny human with every fiber of my being.  And loving you too.  Happy Valentine’s Day!