Madeline Arrives

Our very close friends Cliff and Mary just had their second baby, a baby girl named Madeline.

One of the strange things about baby announcements is that they render the arrival of a human as if it were a normal event. Something regular and conventional that we are accustomed-to and prepared-for. The conventional tranquility of the pictures along with the way that babies sleep a great deal of the time(my friend Greg used to call his kids breathing-luggage), threatens to minimize the astonishing possibilities incipient in these small creatures.

I love the ways, though, that babies reproduce the social world into which they are born or adopted. They are (in many ways) an embodiement of who-loves-them. All it takes is the focused love of a vast network of people -- into one very small person -- to create a human filled with our potential.

If you know Cliff and Mary and all the gifts and stories and histories that they're endowing Madeline with, you wouldn't think that this was just another baby. If you knew the vast capacity for love and encouragement that their broader families possess, you wouldn't think that this picture looked like a regular birth announcement. You'd understand she is something extraordinary.

Madeline, we're all looking at you right now. And for the rest of your life, you can count on the fact that we'll be looking at you with this same intention in our eyes. No matter where you go, what you do, what you decide, or who you become. We're looking at you with love and hope. Welcome. We're very glad you're here.