And so it begins

 On July 12, 1817 Henry David Thoreau entered the world. On that date in 1864, George Washington Carver was born. Forty years later, Pablo Neruda joined the human race.Among the more than 390,000 humans to make their first appearance on our planet on July 12 of this year, 2020, was Henry Burns Hager: fat-cheeked, silky-haired with a cupid-bow mouth and perfect seashell ears.He arrives healthy in the midst of a raging pandemic. He arrives cherished and embraced in a time of deep division and scarring incivility. He arrives with all the promise of the future at a time when the future feels troubled and fragile. In arrives in hope at a time of fear.His parents are two of the most extraordinary human beings I know. I would say this, truly I would, if I were not related to them.But I am.Henry’s father is our son, my middle child. Henry’s mother is my daughter-from-another-mother. (The “in-law” designation doesn’t fit at all, as if a document unites us rather than our hearts.) These two, separately and together, are compassionate, big-hearted, kind, thoughtful, funny, smart, loving, adventurous, quirky, resilient. And more. I could pile up the adjectives. But you get the idea.Henry enters the world with privilege. I am referring not to the privilege of his sex, race and class, enormous as they are, but to the privilege of being born to these parents.Welcome to the world, Henry Burns Hager. Make it a better place.