Love and Loss

Amidst the inauguration of Obama, the melting polar icecaps, and the significant-to-nobody-but-me daily grind, where does intimacy reside?

We all want to be grown-ups, yet maintain and nurture that playful inner child. We want to be sheltered by the warmth that only those who truly love us can provide, and yet we are impatient to wriggle free of the seemingly stifling attention and make our marks on the world. In the process of this struggle, so often is intimacy lost, either taken for granted in a moment of petulance, or entirely overlooked as pressure from the outside world grinds us down. We must be exhausted, and lonely, to boot.

What does it really mean to be mature? Is it the ability to see the world for the harsh and cold place it really is? Is it being able to enjoy the company of a person to whom one is attracted, yet not push for a forbidden act? Is it having more questions than answers and to be content, or even proud in so doing?

Last night, Michelle and Barack danced as the world watched. For a few minutes, they could put aside the serious, almost grave business of running the still most powerful country in the world: that begins in the morning. For now, there's only the two of them. A promising leader, and his beautifully humble wife, in each other's arms, smiling at the victory, at each other.