I write this as Elliott sleeps next to me in a car seat on an airplane to Boston. We were lucky to get an extra seat for him, since we only registered him as a lap child.
He's 10 weeks old now, which I think is still too young to be travelling this far, but Isaac was insistent on making a trip during our time off. In one sense, this time will never come again - travelling with just one baby at 10 weeks old. At the same time, it's such a leap of faith - in our ability to ensure his wellbeing, in the safety of cars and planes and public places, in the world in general I guess.
Admittedly, we will never be able to safeguard him from all the risks of the outside world. If we were to say, send him to daycare at this age, as many parents do, he'd be wildly exposed to all sorts of germs, bacteria and whatnot. And recent news of shootings, floods, and accidents are reminders that there is sometimes truly nothing you can do to fully protect the ones you love.
But still this is an exercise in knowing our limits for risk when it comes to our child. I'm sure it'll be like this for the rest of his life too, even when we aren't always there or making the decisions for him.
Can he go out at night?
On the weekends?
What for?
Where to?
With whom?
How long?
I'm reminded of how my mother refused to let us out of the house after dark, or stay out when it was too late. Even in the safest city in America, with the most obedient children, she feared not what we would do or what trouble we might get into, but what the world might do to us.
Maybe that's what it is to be a parent? I guess I'm still learning.
09.03.25
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