The post-partum bubble

We went to see some friends today with their first child, born just three days ago. It was a great preparation for our number two in just two months, but it also reminded me of what you could call the post-partum bubble, that is, the happy and blissful bubble most couples with a newborn find themselves in for the first few weeks.

And I realized what that bubble is about. The pleasant feeling arises because future and past ceases to exist, or at least to matter. You simply don’t care about your career or your future or your stocks or anything else. It’s just you, your partner, and your baby. The outside world can go to hell, and you simply don’t care.

In a sense, it’s enlightenment, awakening, the power of now. It’s the state you’re in when you’re fully present in this moment right now, enjoying it, scared, confused, tired, sure, but fully there to live it.

Call it what you will, it’s the state we all long to be in.

As a side note, our friends have a copy of the below photo hanging on the wall, and I’ve always been very fascinated with it. Only now did I realize that it’s the highest-priced photo in the world. I didn’t realize it was quite at that level, but it is an amazing photo when it’s printed in a large size.