Danny ChaiAbby definitely goes through emotional stages: talkative, reserved, smiley, fussy. Last weekend she was in a smiley / laughing stage, hence our most recent pics and (poorly lit) videos; the first capturing her laughs.
People say being a parent helps them understand God’s love more, and I’m sure that’s true, but my insights have been more pedestrian – it’s helped me understand my own parents’ love more. My parents were in town last week for a couple days, the first time I’ve seen them since Abby was born, and I literally looked at them in a whole new light. Just, somehow I realized that they loved me as much as I love Abby, and that kind of blew me away, made me feel… well… ashamed.
I’ve always appreciated my parents, but there have always been little things about them, things I wished they had done differently, choices they made, ways they treated me. But now, I mean, I’ve not so much hubris to think I love Abby more than they loved me, and to know the depth of that love from the other side, wow, I just feel like an unappreciative twit.
So seeing them was an interesting experience. I literally see them differently now, and it’s caused me to have a lot more appreciation for them.