A Place is the People You Are With

"A place is the people you are with" was etched into a urinal in Budapest. I was living in Europe, traveling without much of a compass and I thought it an apt way to remind you to value the companionship you found along the way.

On Friday, a co-working of mine asked me what I had planned for the weekend. I have a three week old child, so we are therefore: changing diapers, feeding him, changing diapers, cleaning up spit-up, changing diapers, wandering aimlessly around the apartment (see Nov 16th post w/ video; Finnegan already likes travel), changing diapers, shopping, cleaning, trying to nap, and changing diapers. It was a smart-ass reply and my unmarried pal laughed and said it wasn't a convincing argument for having kids.

The thing is, I was totally looking forward to the weekend and doing all this stuff with the fam. I appreciate this sounds nuts, but it's hard to describe to the uninitiated the thrill of being with your kid and your partner. When I first met Veronica, it's like I grew a new emotion that caused me to become a much deeper person. When we had Finnegan, a similar thing happened, but not only had this new person created a whole new territory in my emotional life, but the emotional landscape that Veronica and I shared became so much richer. So much so that I look forward to changing diapers soon.

So the weekend is a place full of my favorite people and there's no other place I'd rather be.