Oak turned eight years old this past Friday. I’m not sure how it all has gone by so fast. I know everyone says that. I know I say much of the same nearly every year. But this year, feels exceptionally different. Weighted. Complex. Beautiful.
This winter and spring when I thought I needed time alone, it was Oak’s insistence that I create a new-found intimacy with my growing children, that lifted me up. The way (at least for now), he says my bed is the most comfortable place on the planet, and my hugs are the warmest from anyone, ever. It is O (and River too) whose birth months, days, and hours ground me. Not just as a marker of time passing, but of what I am doing in this world. Although it isn’t all of which or what I am doing, it is, by far, the place where I want to steer my ship to, indefinitely.
There’s so much I can share about this kid, life, and this new year. But for now I’ll leave off with this video from nearly eight years ago, playing a record in our old sunken living room, reminding my boy that his name told a story.
Thanks as always for being here, and watching (mostly online) my babies grow.
Absolutely beautiful. Happy Birthday to Oak. I love what you wrote about steering your ship toward them. I feel my children growing too and crave their company as I used to crave alone time when they were tiny and I felt I needed space. I see details in them now more clearly I think than in those sleep deprived times. Enjoy 8!