The Daily Grind

After a tumultuous summer of moving in with my sister with my sleep-allergic newborn while my husband worked at a job half a globe away, and then being reunited and traveling to yet another corner of the world - South Africa - to visit his parents and tragically watch his dear sweet mother unexpectedly die, and then traveling back to Boston to quickly find a new apartment and day care before work and school started while still nursing our grief (whew), I was all too happy to settle into a boring routine.

So, here I am, settled into my boring routine. We wake up with the crows, play hot potato with the baby while we shower, eat breakfast and pack up for the day. Caleb and I get the 7:28 train downtown; I somehow fill up my work day, grab Caleb, and take the 4:40 back. We play for half an hour and then resume our baby hot potato while making dinner and entertaining and bathing the baby. Then we fall into the couch with our dinner, watch a Daily Show episode, catch up on emails and go to bed sometime around 9:30.

There’s something really comforting about this, but also something drudging and tedious about it. I love my life, but sometimes I feel like I’m sleepwalking through it.

But then there are moments that wake me from my ennui. Like those times when I’m nursing my little cherub of a baby and he peeks up at me with his wide content eyes, his tiny hands reaching for my face, and I feel a rush of intense and protective love. Like when Colin and I are engaged in a heated exchange of ideas and I step outside myself for a moment and marvel at his passion and intelligence and feel lucky to have him as a partner. And all of this makes me happy in a weird way to have a monotonous backdrop so that these small and special moments stand in even starker relief, revealing the full power of their beauty.