Quote of the Year
Posted By Russ Emerson on December 31, 2004 at 6:18 pm
Scanning my Quote of the Day archives, trying to avoid anything election-related, I found a true gem, completely devoid of political content or context:
When first you hold [your child’s] hand it’s a tight small walnut balled in protest against the cold and the light. Then it’s the small collection of wiggly digits you’re washing forty times a day. Then it’s big enough so its fingers fit into yours. You’re no longer holding the hand at the wrist; now you weave your fingers together instinctively. I don’t think it’s possible to do this, ever, without some voice in the back of your head steeling you for the day when she pulls away, and pulls away for good. Or at least for a few years. Four, ten, twenty – what counts is that you’ll hold hands again at the end.
James Lileks on parenthood. I think this falls into the category of “Eternal Truths.” I wish I could write so well and so profoundly.
Dammit, Russ, don’t do that to a guy! My first will be born in March, and I’m already turning into a sentimental slushball.