The Sunny Side of Life: 30. Babies

Friday, May 7, 2010

30. Babies

Today was the premiere of Babies -- a documentary of my favorite thing in the world. =) It followed four infants from pregnancy to toddlerhood and was one and a half hours of pure joy.

I'm not sure what it is about babies... kids in general... that makes me so incredibly happy. I mean, kids make most people pretty happy (especially in the pre-talking stages) but I kind of have an extreme version of baby-syndrome. I don't even have to be holding them. Just seeing a little tyke in a shopping cart can make my entire afternoon. It's crazy. I've been like that since I was a kid and will hopefully always feel that way. I don't even want one of my own yet so you can't blame it on "girl hormones." I was just born with something that tells me that kids are God's single greatest gift to the world.

Perhaps it's that my life has been shaped by kids. When I was really little, it was my baby brothers. Then I got a little older and had to rely on baby dolls. They served me quite well. Very few family photos exist of me without my baby dolls. If I'm not holding one, I'm probably thinking about them. Rose, a gift from my uncle Matt & aunt Chris (prior to her being my aunt), was my favorite. I seriously thought she was my daughter for quite some time. Then I was 8 and FINALLY the real little Rose came along. She came over to cheer me up when I had surgery (and go figure, 12 years later, she did the same thing!). Then I started babysitting. Lauren started it off by sleeping through the night for the first time when I stayed overnight with her at 11 years old. A little girl named Bella saved my life when I was in high school. A two year old named Lily recently taught me more than I thought a 2 year old was capable of teaching. Just recently a 5 month old named Lila flipped my world upside down and changed my perspectives on more than I could ever hope to share here. The twins, Grace and Brooke, gave me tons of lessons on patience and parenting (as well as love). The kids in Guatemala put a whole new potential future on my radar. I can't even explain the amount of tears, smiles, giggles, thoughts, lessons, joy, stress, and changes that have been brought on by the kids in my life. Given my extreme hope to work with kids in one way or another (or two or five or ten ways), I can only imagine what kids will change my life are in my future. =)

Today's Sunny Thing?

Babies