…how lucky you are?” So begins my favorite Dr. Seuss title by the same name. Sitting here today, I couldn’t help but recall the first few pages of the book:

When I was quite young and quite small for my size, I met an old man in the Desert of Dries. He sang me a song I will never forget. At least, well, I haven’t forgotten it yet. He sat in a very prickly place, but he sang with a sunny, sweet smile on his face, “When you think things are sad…you feel sour and blue…when you start to feel mad…just do what I do. Just tell yourself, ‘Ducky, you’re really quite lucky! Some people are much more unlucky than you!'”

I’ve always loved this story for the quirky tales Dr. Seuss weaves about imaginary characters in trying predicaments, but I love it more now as an adult because it reminds me with some regularity that I truly live a charmed life, even in the midst of trials and challenges.

As I’ve reflected here before on numerous occasions, being pregnant with Henry was truly a joy. That doesn’t mean, though, that it didn’t come with its fair share of difficulties or character builders along the way. I was blessed to have a relatively textbook pregnancy, and Henry’s birth followed suit on many levels. And still, I sit here on day like today, learning Henry, trying to be the best mom I can, feeling under the weather, and as a new parent, wondering how all of the pieces come together. I can’t complain a bit, because we have been so incredibly fortunate. I’ll admit though that this is tough stuff–learning to raise a newborn and processing so much all at one time. Pregnancy was kind of like drinking cool water from a fountain compared to the fire hose I occasionally feel like I’m drinking from now 🙂

So every once in a while (ok, all day long, actually), I look over at Henry for the instant reminder that I am, and we are, “really quite lucky.” We’re more than lucky. We’re abundantly cared for and provided for, and infinitely blessed to be parents to such a healthy baby boy. We are surrounded by people who look after us to see that our needs are being met without solicitation, and we couldn’t feel more loved than we have over the past week as Henry has taken our lives by storm (in every good and perfect way). Marveling at Henry is like having a thousand wise old men, sitting in prickly places all around us and reminding, “Ducky, you’re really quite lucky! Some people are much more, oh ever so much more, oh muchly much much more unlucky than you!”

Here’s our little “lucky” charm, sporting his dinos for the first time today. How can I not look at him and simply swoon?

with a sunny, sweet smile on my face,

mm