Raising Children -
Perhaps what I was trying to say in my last post is captured in this poem which Stephanie posted on Connection Well this morning. I want each child to have a fair and loving start. I'm not exactly sure how we get there, but perhaps it begins in the schools, in our treatment of our children, in appropriating as much money to education as we do to defense. Imagine that! The two budgets reversed.
Here is Stephanie's poem, a beautiful tribute to herself and her lovely daughter Lena.
I am dressing for the baby
My standard nursing top (The Gap - $36) is gripped by her hand while nursing,
as she fans it back and forth,
tightening her grip so that I don’t sneak away when she falls asleep,
what she regards as my deepest betrayal of her, my tendency, need, really,
to do something, anything, other than hold her all the time.
My V-neck long sleeve T-shirt (Banana Republic - $19) is beloved, held with a closed palm,
the fabric thinner than the tank, more can collect in her palm, sometimes both palms,
as she clings and sucks and pulls me closer.
But the masterpiece is the worn cashmere sweater (Old Navy - $59), over the nursing top, and
over the V-neck long sleeve T-shirt, with the pills on the sleeves that are stroked back and forth,
back and forth, back and forth, as I’ve taught her to pet the dog,
gentle, gentle, gentle.
- Stephanie Anagnoson