Smiling Through It All

One of the things I love about Connor – and kids in general – is their capacity to be blissfully unaware of many things. Sure, Connor cries when I leave in the morning (thankfully not all of the time anymore!), and when he does so, he seems truly sad. But he doesn’t much care that we have a bonehead for a President and I don’t think he’s ever thought about the people in Darfur. So long as he has some sort of toy, new area to discover, or someone to play with, he’s a pretty happy baby. Two incidents recently brought this home.

One of the children who attends meetings at the Breastfeeding Center with me who is exactly two months younger than Connor recently had open heart surgery. He’s not even a year old! We went to visit one afternoon and it was almost surreal. There Connor was testing out Teo's new toys that he had yet to play with, laughing and generally thinking eating blueberries was the coolest thing he could be doing, while all around us, there were some very sick children. Teo, thankfully, is at home and recovering well.

And yesterday, I’m not sure I’ve ever been so thankful for Connor’s good health. My cousin’s daughter has spent the last few months fighting cancer, and though everyone was very hopeful her journey with cancer was coming to an end – it turns out that the cancer has spread to her lungs. When I heard the news, I was devastated. It just seems so wrong. If you have a deity you pray to, please ask that deity to help Sadie and her family out.

Seeing Connor’s smile when I came home this afternoon was never so sweet.

Elaine