The Cycle of Life

Seems as if Michael was struck with roseola this past week. Tuesday afternoon I realized he was burning up and the thermometer read 101. We gave him a few doses of Tylenol for the pain until the fever broke Wednesday evening. Thursday morning we were surprised to find little red bumps all over his face and chest. Luckily they weren't itchy and lasted only two days. Today he woke up happy and rash free! It was sure nice to have the old, happy, smiley Mikey back again. He's just so cute with all his big teethy smiles these days. All the symptoms point to roseola and apparently it's pretty common: "usually affects children between 6 months and 3 years of age." Never heard of it myself and I'm not exactly sure if that's what it was. I'm just glad it wasn't anything too serious and hope nothing else strange happens tomorrow.

I finished Orson Scott Card's Shadow of the Hegemon, not enjoying it as much as Ender's Shadow or Ender's Game. I probably didn't like it as much because it went into great detail about different countries' war strategies. Dan said I'd like it better if I understood world politics. Guess I know what I need to brush up on. Anyhow, I still enjoyed the book for the most part. Being written by an LDS author, there were a few philosophical segues that provoked consideration. I'd like to share one with you:

"Love? That's what this all comes down to?"

"No, not just love. I'm talking about the cycle of life. I'm talking about finding some alien creature and deciding to marry her and stay with her forever, no matter whether you even like each other or not a few years down the road. And why will you do this? So you can make babies together, and try to keep them alive and teach them what they need to know so that someday they'll have babies, and keep the whole thing going. And you'll never draw a secure breath until you have grandchildren, a double handful of them, because then you know that your line won't die out, your influence will continue. Selfish, isn't it? Only it's not selfish, it's what life is for. It's the only thing that brings happiness, ever, to anyone. All the other things- victories, achievements, honors, causes- they bring only momentary flashes of pleasure. But binding yourself to another person and to the children you make together, that's life. And you can't do it if your life is centered on your ambitions. You'll never be happy. It will never be enough, even if you rule the world..."

"Excuse me if I'm missing something here...but as far as I can tell, marrying and having children has brought you nothing but grief."

"Yes," she said. "Now you're getting it."

"Where's the joy? That's what I'm not getting."

"The grief is the joy...I have someone to grieve for. Whom do you have?..."

"I have someone to grieve for..."

"You think you do...everyone thinks they do, until they take a child into their heart. Only then do you know what it is to be a hostage to love. To have someone else's life matter more than your own."

Well, it got me thinking about life and love. Maybe because I'm a new mother, but I thought this passage had some pretty interesting points to consider. Makes me grateful for my new little family and all the love in my life. Interesting to realize the joy we find in our posterity.