When Two Become Three

Baby Lulu made her first grand entrance on January 28. While I can’t possibly be as thrilled as her proud parents, I am so excited to see such a lovely little creature enter our lives. Lulu has intelligent eyes, a rosebud mouth, strong hands, capable lungs and the cutest little almost-eyebrows. What great fortune she has to be born to parents who want her, love her, can afford her and welcome her as much as any child can be. So many children are not so warmly greeted.

Her maternal family members are dear friends of ours and her paternal family members are warm and generous. For years we have been treated like family, invited to family functions happy and sad. I couldn’t feel closer if I had been legally adopted instead of our own mutual agreement of informal adoption of friendship and love.

Lulu is the luckiest baby I know right now. She has great-grandmas. One of them is one of my best friends. Even though Gerry is closer to my mom’s age than mine, we are more like co-conspirators than mother-daughter. We have been known to dash off to the department store to purchase a refrigerator on a whim, try our luck at the slot machines and even get into trouble giggling in the back row in church. Gerry cooks a fabulous stuffed flank steak and treats us to major holiday dinners to die for and in some cases from but only from quantity. The quality has always been dreamy. Her mock ravioli and “green slime” jello salad are legendary. If it’s a holiday, Gerry’s house is where the action is.

Gerry and I have a lot in common. We both can talk a blue streak and have a million crazy stories from our lives. Gerry writes a daily letter to God and I, well, I blog of course. We both think St Therese The Little Flower is the bee’s knees and are admirers of the Little Way. We both like to try new ideas out and try new things. We both like the idea of “spontaneous.” We both like our extraordinary ordinary lives and the amazing things and people in it. We both like chocolate, although I have never felt the need to confess that as a sin and therefore differ from Gerry on that topic. And we both think my husband is a saint in the making. Basically, he has to be to put up with both of us.

Gerry’s daughters who are the new Grandma and Great Aunt are also dear to us. Maureen is like the eye of the storm. Nancy will make sure that storm is a work of art. And the new Great Uncle Bob is a gentle, peaceful artist and artisan, a lover of dachshunds and deserts, wise counselor and handyman. The in-laws are unique and interesting too. I’m sure the new Grandpa will be bursting with pride when we see him in a couple of weeks, another lovely lady to adore the former surfer and former mayor. And if Facebook posts are any indication, the new Aunt is utterly smitten too.

Almost as wonderful as seeing this new little princess today was watching her parents. I’ve watched her mother grow from high school “Broadway” performer to capable professional to giddy bride to fiercely protective and graciously tender mother. While cradling her firstborn, she can still speak out on the issue of health care in our modern world. And Lulu’s stunned and entranced father is a wonder to behold. As I watched him hold his own miracle in his arms, I saw suddenly he is now a man with a purpose, awed by the perfection, in love with his wife and his daughter, vital in his life.

Watching these new parents who just a few short weeks ago had been two and are now three, I could almost see the glow around them of light and love, of history and future, of stories and adventures, of life. In the tarot, when we move from the 2 of Cups to the 3 of Cups, the two entwined become a celebration of life. Love moves beyond intimate one-on-one bonding to a dance of joy in everyone’s life touched by that love. And today, that love is Lulu. Welcome, Baby.

Best wishes!