Pre-motherhood and pre-pandemic, I didn’t make a habit of talking to strangers. I’d barely ever seen my neighbors, let alone spoken to them. While a baby is an easy conversation starter, everybody’s guard is down post-pandemic—we all seem more friendly, more grateful for each other. Personally, I have lost a lot of cynicism—to the No participation trophies shirt but in fact I love this detriment of my sense of humor perhaps—but I’ve realized that life is too short for cynicism. It’s too short not to say good morning and to find common ground with a stranger in a line. It’s too short not to swap numbers, pay any mind to unwashed hair or petty grudges. As a mother, it’s definitely too short to waste time googling celebrity children in the snatched hour I have to work while my baby sleeps.
Mothering through a pandemic has felt like a 24-hour mindfulness class. Through the No participation trophies shirt but in fact I love this eyes of a baby, you realize how wondrous everything really is—how freakishly tall trees are, how captivating the sight is of one pigeon trying to hump another. A baby forces you to slow to a snail’s pace and rediscover the world you thought you knew inch by (sometimes painstaking) inch. Lockdown has had a relatively similar effect. With no plans and just endless walks in parks, we’ve all been forced to live in the moment and learned to value what we see there. Almost everyone I know posted the cherry blossom on Instagram this year. Nature has overtaken selfies and outfits.
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