I’ve been sorting through digital archives, and one of the things I found was covertly filmed footage of an ordinary ferry ride. I was bemused to watch myself, bedraggled in a tattered vintage dress, with pink and white striped hair, walking around with a four year old child in a suit and bow-tie.
Memories are curious; I actually do recall that day, and approximately what I was thinking about that summer. What I’d forgotten is how it felt to be so entwined with a small vulnerable human, that we could not handle being more than a few feet from each other.
The tape documents how we used to wander, touching every few minutes, aware of the other person and very little else about our surroundings.
Parenting small children is a tactile experience. Their immediate physical and mental needs are of paramount importance, to the exclusion of much else – even if you have other responsibilities or desires. This isn’t a choice, it is just part of the deal.
All babies love me (the same is true of abused dogs and lost tourists), but the only toddlers and small children I’ve ever enjoyed have been my own. Taking care of them, while sometimes difficult, has never been a chore. I have been delighted by their individual, alarming, dramatic selves at every stage of life.
I don’t just love them; I enjoy and adore them. This was of course no guarantee that the feeling would be reciprocated as they grew up. I know that lots of attentive, loving families break down, that grown-ups make their own choices. I’m not the sort to expect fealty, or filial devotion of any kind.
They owe me nothing.
It is a surprise then to have a ten year old who still wants to hang out with me. And a grown-up, fully launched daughter who invites me to go to concerts, not because she needs a ride or cash, but because she actually likes me.
It is an honor to have the opportunity to know them.