Sleep, Baby, Sleep

I spent far too long tonight attempting to get my little one to go to sleep and stay asleep. Fortunately, his grandpa was there to work his magic and get him to dreamland, so it all ended well. But while I was carrying the boy, swaying back and forth while holding him so that he could stare at the mesmerizing ceiling fan, I thought about how precious these moments really are. Most of the time, I'm so tired that I am impatient, in a hurry to get them over with, and I fail to appreciate what it really means to hold a precious life in my arms. I might as well cherish these times, since I am apparently destined to never forget them: Thirty-one years after the fact, my mother still makes a point of reminiscing about my own refusal to sleep as a baby.

Holding a baby, nuzzling the oh-so-soft neck, hearing the laughs that are like enchanted fairy bugles... these are the sweetest of life's simple pleasures.

The Simple Life

It is a challenge to aspire to simplicity when living in one of the least simple places in the world: Southern California. [Need I convince you? One word: freeways.] I think it is worth the effort to take on that challenge, however. My parents are rather good at modeling simplicity. I'd like to learn. I am attempting to be a real person, a person who embraces simplicity not as a fad or tool for self-improvement, but rather as a foundational principle of that most elusive of thing, the good life.

Socrates would assert, no doubt, that the good life is one of earnest contemplation and self-examination. Aristotle would advocate order, moderation, and a sort of benificent pragmatism. For Confucius, it might be the pursuit of perfection of virtue. Me? I'm lucky to make it through a day without any major screw-ups. I haven't realized the good life yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I get there.