The Most Important Things

There is an addition to the family. Quinn Nicole Murray arrived 2/10/2010. Almost seven pounds, 21" long, with a full head of hair.

Deanna labored for seventeen hours without any pain medication, or other medical interventions. Aside from a sterile environment, she got the job done much as it had been getting done 100 years ago. It was the most inspiring and humbling experience of my life. Come to think of it, 100 years ago, the men paced the hall and waited. Now, they are more likely to be in the delivery room. Maybe the pain killers are really for the men. Knowing that you spend every night sleeping next to someone so enduring, powerful, resolved, and generous is pretty humbling. Her inate capability and strength make the presence of a new life so fragile and mysterious a little less daunting.

Quinn is doing well. She is healthy and getting into the swing of babyness, which involves heavy concentration on the basics of existence. She is lovely, with dark baby eyes, a pretty head of hair, and real people skills. I mean it, folks just love her.

And there have been folks. Deanna and I are overwhelmed at our friends willingness to spend time with us and the baby. There is nothing that cushions the blow of a drastic life change like friends acting like it's the most normal thing in the world.

It is the most normal thing in the world. It's just also one of the most important normal things in the world. I'm grateful to be a part of it.

More later and pictures once we get a breather.