In praise of Daria

So many people have been kind and loving and generous and attentive during Ronin's introduction to the world.

But I must give special thanks to Daria, my friend, who has been an incredible source of support and relief as I've transitioned into motherhood.

She set up a web site to organize our friends to cook meals for us immediately after the baby was born. She came over the day after he came home from the hospital and brought food and folded laundry and held him and she was so strong and capable. She's got 2 grown kids of her own, although she's quite young, so she's got the wisdom of a grandmother and the connection of a dear friend. It's perfect.

When Ronin was really little and having trouble gaining weight, and I was in major pain from shingles, she stayed several nights with him, doing all of his feedings, so Vasu and I could sleep. Daria gave Ronin his very first bottle (back when he would take one). She advised me to squirt breast milk in his eye to clear up an eye infection, and it worked almost instantly. 

She's come over many, many, many times and had Ronin to her house numerous times. She hangs out at our house one night almost every week so Vasu and I can go on "date night." She's the person who helped us transition Ronin to his crib, back when no one was getting more than 1.5 hours of sleep, and all was chaos, and I was loathe to kick him out of the bed.

She's certainly one of Ronin's other mothers. I hope he has many mothers and fathers in this life, people to watch over him and guide him on his way. Ronin is very fortunate to have Daria's love and support, as am I.

What would we have done without Daria? What would we do without Daria? How can we ever repay Daria? I wish everyone in the world had a Daria.