We Care

Owen's coming, Owen's coming.
That boy is coming.
I get to see his sharp new tooth. I'll wash my hands and slide my finger down his gum and feel it for myself. I'll tell him what a big boy he's getting to be. I'll hold his weight in my arms and I'll talk and sing to him all day long. If he gets mad, I'll figure out how to unmadden him.
That's what I do.
And when it's time for him to eat, I'll make his bottle and hold him tightly to me and look back at his beautiful eyes looking at mine.
This is what I do best. Taking care.

I sent a note in my husband's lunch box this morning. It said, "I love you for everything you do for me and our family." And I do. He works so hard. He had to go to bed at ten last night because by the middle of the week, he's exhausted. He gets up at six to go work out and since he's been doing that, so many of the health problems he's had his entire adult life have disappeared. I can feed him right but I can't make him go to the gym. He does that on his own. I am incredibly proud of that man. He does all he's big enough to do and dear God, he is big.
So I do what I can to help him. Some nights I make him beans and some nights I make him soup and last night I made him a pork chop and a sweet potato, golden as the Promised Land, and oat bran muffins and a salad with arugula from the garden, tomatoes and cucumbers and olives. I packed up his lunch with another serving of all of that and I know when he eats his lunch, he'll find the note, he'll like his pork chop. He always washes the containers I put his food in to bring home to me. Always.

We take care. We take care of each other, we take care of our family. This is what we do best. We seem to have a great need to do that, both of us. To look at us, me and Mr. Moon, you would see little in common. He's tall, I'm short, he's an ex-jock, I'm a still-hippie. He loves to hunt and be out on the sea, fishing. I like to see the woods from the path when I walk, I like to watch the ocean from a porch or a dock. But our hearts are very much the same. We both have a huge need to take care. He takes care of his customers. He takes care of me. We both take care of this home, this yard, our chickens, our children, and now Owen.

Owen. This love that Mr. Moon and I have for each other has led to this boy. And because we take care of each other, because we have nurtured that love, we are able to care for him.

A miracle in my life.

I watch the news of Haiti this morning and I see the suffering but I see the planes from everywhere in the world, come to help. Soldiers and medical workers, the Red Cross. They are bringing food and water and first aid supplies. They are doing what they can, one person at a time, to take care of others whom they do not know, whom they have never met, but for whom they care for because like I said last night, we are all part of this one human family.

And isn't that it? We take care of ourselves and then we can take care of others and we do that every day. Some people take care of vast numbers of people, some take care of one. It's okay. We're taking care.

Take care today. Of yourself, of your cat, of your chickens, children, lovers, friends, the people you work for and with. Let them take care of you, too because everyone, somewhere, has this need to care. Give others the gift of being able to help you if you need it.
Thank them.

That's all. The miracle of being human.

Take care.