The Good Life!

There are some times in the year, which are emotional hotspots. Currently I am sitting at the center of one of those places. Not long ago would’ve been my mother’s 74th birthday had she not died of emphysema. Shortly after that was the anniversary of her mother’s suicide just shy of 93 years old. However, I also just celebrated (and attended) the birth of my nephew. I am childless by a combination of choice and timing. My brother is stepfather to my most favored niece Emily who has been my one and only since she was two years old. But this is the first (& no doubt last) newborn child in this part of the Howden line.

My mother was not a lover of babies, or children of any age for that matter. My grandmother, while a little more forgiving, frequently questioned why anyone would want to bring a child into this world. Not wanting this sentiment to be the defining legacy welcoming my nephew—and personally excited to have happy news at a time of year which has held a certain sadness—I have been contemplating the answer to my grandmother’s challenge: “Why in the world we would want a new child in the world and what might he find now that he is here?”

To be sure the 21st century presents a cluster of challenges: endless war, Reality Television, corporate greed and manipulation, global warming, racism, sexism, homophobia…the list is endless. Still, I find the world endlessly fascinating and mind-boggling.

For example:

Apparently not content with the reach of the old list, the Vatican has made-up a new list of sins.

A man who was born female and who is now legally male is pregnant with and will give birth to his own child.

After a historic primary election, hopefully the United States will soon be electing its first woman or black president (88 years after women earned the right to vote and 138 years after the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified and 43 years after the Voting Rights Act of 1965)

However, amidst of all this fascination its the tiniest pleasures which pack the biggest joy. When I hear the specially programmed ringtone of a dear one calling, or standing up on a surfboard for the first time at age 50 and a newborn sleeping on your chest these are divine moments. And let’s not ignore the fact that the Girl Scouts are now packaging Thin Mints in 100 calorie packs!

My father put it most succinctly at his recent birthday celebration. When I asked if he had anything he wanted to impart after 75 years on the planet, he paused, closed his eyes for a minute, then looked up with a big grin on his face and said, “Life is Good!”

Reason enough to welcome this child to the world and celebrate his arrival.