I was walking my dog this morning when the former owner of our house pulled her minivan alongside me said "Congratulations". I was surprised that she knew about our newborn. Although we are friendly with the couple that used to own our house, we are by no means close. In the two years that we have lived in this village we have maybe seen them a half dozen times. What was even more shocking was that she knew the middle name of our child!
I wouldn't consider our town tiny but I guess it is a far cry from when we were living in New York City. I do like the small-town feeling that our block sometimes exhibits. Still, people seem to come out of the woodwork when they know that a baby is around. The newer the baby the greater the fascination. Why this interest?
Could it be the cuteness factor? Quite possibly. Our little one IS very adorable. I think however that we are drawn to little people for other reasons as well. For me, everytime I look at our little girl it is almost like I can see every posssibity. As her father this is understandable. But I think that looking at her also brings me back to a place in my life that I can never really fully be brought back to. Mostly this has to do with innocence. She hasn't learned any prejudice yet; doesn't know about hate. Her world is all about trusting the people who take care of her. Afterall, she doesn't have any choice. She relies on us, she depends on us.
Perhaps when we look at babies it reminds us of a pureness that we all once shared but most of us have forgotten. For a slight moment in time we think about what it could be like to live in that world again.
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